Apple Online Store Updates Sales Chat Support, Testing Screen Sharing Virtual Tours in Brazil

Now that's incredibly handy, trying to guide an aging person (such as a parent) through something over the phone is like walking through fire.

"Click on the menu button..... No the menu button.... THE MENU BUTTON, it looks like a button with 'MENU' written on it......."

And so on.

Good to see the Brazilian market leading the way once more - once the taxation of Apple devices gets to a more reasonable level there, the increasingly wealthier local consumers will be even more willing to buy from Apple than what they are already doing right now.

Next logical step: MAJOR Apple Stores in São Paulo, Rio and Curitiba - mark my words for this extremely important emerging Western power.

Benjy91 said:

Now that's incredibly handy, trying to guide an aging person (such as a parent) through something over the phone is like walking through fire.

"Click on the menu button..... No the menu button.... THE MENU BUTTON, it looks like a button with 'MENU' written on it......."

And so on.

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Ha, so true.

And here's me thinking they were going to advertise their new line of laptops! I guess I'll have to wait a little longer for my PowerBook G5.

Anyone ever used them? I hope they aren't sleazy and try to sell AppleCare and accessories to unsophisticated consumers.

yes! this has been a much waited service for me

SilianRail said:

Anyone ever used them? I hope they aren't sleazy and try to sell AppleCare and accessories to unsophisticated consumers.

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It's a sales job. I did it with Arise (one of Apple's many vendors who staff for AppleCare and the ASTO). You get four chats at once, 15 seconds to respond to the last message from each chatter, and your are judged based on your conversion rate (chat to sale). In the old days, you could see exactly what the customer was seeing (you would have a section in LivePerson where you would see their trail of links, so you could follow along with the customer). You were encouraged to create a cart for the customer and stay with them while they checked out, and that meant building a total solution, including AppleCare. Right as I was leaving that job, they were making changes, and I remember the cart functionality wasn't working the same. So I'm not sure how it is now. The expected conversion rates weren't nearly as high as working on the phones though. I think it may have even been as low as 4%, but you have to remember a lot of the chats were pranks, etc.

IDK, personally I hate online chats for services. Selling a product may be a different story, but online help takes longer than speaking with an agent. I especially find this annoying with iTunes help as AppleCare does not offer over the phone assistance with iTunes.

I remember when Apple outsourced to India call centers a few years ago. THAT went over well LOL. It was immediately halted.

Even more interestingly, Apple appears to be using its Brazilian store as a test market for even further enhancements that allow sales specialists to share their screens with potential customers to help walk them through a product's features.

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That would be much better!

Well at the price they pay for Apple product, they at least deserve extra customer services.

Seriously how can people manage to live in Brasil with such taxes?

So your desktop screen contains a browser which contains Apple.com which contains a second desktop screen which contains a second browser which contains a second version of Apple.com.

For the first time, I think I might need a Genius to help me understand my Mac

If only they could extend the same level of interactivity to their godforsaken "support" forums.

Augure said:

Well at the price they pay for Apple product, they at least deserve extra customer services.

Seriously how can people manage to live in Brasil with such taxes?

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LOL. I live in Brasil. It's horrible to pay taxes like brazilian people pay. The government here in Brasil it's horrible. Is a government of corrupt politicians.
Thats the result of bad administration!!! Bad Government = Horrible Country

Augure said:

Well at the price they pay for Apple product, they at least deserve extra customer services.

Seriously how can people manage to live in Brasil with such taxes?

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Just imagine what they could do WITHOUT excessive taxes, huh? In any case, the main burden talked about here is on imported electronics, which in any case can be fairly easily bought on instalments.

Moreover, Brazil has an extensive local industry for computers and the like, giving people the possibility to buy without incurring the same taxation as traditional Apple products.

Although this should change for the better once more and more iPads/iPhones are produced locally, the main issue depends on whether the average Brazilian consumer wakes up to the fact that what he pays is NOT ONLY due to taxes - companies love to put a huge mark-up due to those consumers' extremely high willingness to pay whatever price for a nice gadget. Ironically, they now face the same situation I see in Switzerland: people paying a LOT more just because they can and accept to - the traditional economic concept of welfare, if you will.

Besides, although there is still considerable poverty in the country, one cannot forget that Brazil has 190 million inhabitants, of which at least 30% can easily afford to buy the most expensive things...companies love that, especially for electronics and vehicles.

SilianRail said:

Anyone ever used them? I hope they aren't sleazy and try to sell AppleCare and accessories to unsophisticated consumers.

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I used them once and it was a pleasant experience. I couldn't find some information about a potential purchase. My question was answered quickly and correctly. I said thank you and left the conversation. Later on I ordered online as a result of knowing I was getting the correct item, and never felt any pressure.

victorbla said:

LOL. I live in Brasil. It's horrible to pay taxes like brazilian people pay. The government here in Brasil it's horrible. Is a government of corrupt politicians.
Thats the result of bad administration!!! Bad Government = Horrible Country

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If you ever studied Tax Law, you would understand that, once a government approves additional taxation, it will almost never accept to relinquish it. Furthermore, Brazil is a federative republic - the President is not able to change the whole taxation system at will...exactly the same happens with the horrid tax system in the US - the only advantage is that taxes are still lower over there.

As for corruption, please stop this usual mongrel dog complex that affects many Brazilians - according to the latest Transparency International reports, Brazil's corruption levels are way better than China and Russia, better than most of the Americas, much better than most of Eastern Europe and Africa, and at similar levels as "rich" countries such as Italy. So try to put a little perspective into things instead of spouting the same blabla to non-Brazilians.

BRLawyer said:

As for corruption, please stop this usual mongrel dog complex that affects many Brazilians - according to the latest Transparency International reports, Brazil's corruption levels are way better than China and Russia, better than most of the Americas, much better than most of Eastern Europe and Africa, and at similar levels as "rich" countries such as Italy. So try to put a little perspective into things instead of spouting the same blabla to non-Brazilians.

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Bob Loblaw?

AppleDroid said:

Bob Loblaw?
Image

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Who the heck is that?

Augure said:

Well at the price they pay for Apple product, they at least deserve extra customer services.

Seriously how can people manage to live in Brasil with such taxes?

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You're partly right. But there are countries more expensive than Brazil, of course.

victorbla said:

LOL. I live in Brasil. It's horrible to pay taxes like brazilian people pay. The government here in Brasil it's horrible. Is a government of corrupt politicians.
Thats the result of bad administration!!! Bad Government = Horrible Country

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Of course this is not a political forum, but I have to remind you that all those taxes come from previous ( ARENA, PMDB and PSDB ) Governments. Corruption is not a Brazilian privilege. In any case, if you're not happy, you're free to go

BRLawyer said:

If you ever studied Tax Law, you would understand that, once a government approves additional taxation, it will almost never accept to relinquish it. Furthermore, Brazil is a federative republic - the President is not able to change the whole taxation system at will...exactly the same happens with the horrid tax system in the US - the only advantage is that taxes are still lower over there.

As for corruption, please stop this usual mongrel dog complex that affects many Brazilians - according to the latest Transparency International reports, Brazil's corruption levels are way better than China and Russia, better than most of the Americas, much better than most of Eastern Europe and Africa, and at similar levels as "rich" countries such as Italy. So try to put a little perspective into things instead of spouting the same blabla to non-Brazilians.

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Wise words.


Now, about this information, I do hope that Apple looks to Brazil with more attention from now on

BRLawyer said:

If you ever studied Tax Law, you would understand that, once a government approves additional taxation, it will almost never accept to relinquish it. Furthermore, Brazil is a federative republic - the President is not able to change the whole taxation system at will...exactly the same happens with the horrid tax system in the US - the only advantage is that taxes are still lower over there.

As for corruption, please stop this usual mongrel dog complex that affects many Brazilians - according to the latest Transparency International reports, Brazil's corruption levels are way better than China and Russia, better than most of the Americas, much better than most of Eastern Europe and Africa, and at similar levels as "rich" countries such as Italy. So try to put a little perspective into things instead of spouting the same blabla to non-Brazilians.

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Believe me. Brazil sucks!!!
You would hate to live here. I know that Brazil isn't THAT BAD. But still horrible to live here.

Screen sharing makes a lot of sense. It's incredibly frustrating to troubleshoot an issue on a computer without being able to see it, or at least have the user see an image of what they should be doing. iChat screen sharing has revolutionized the tech support I provide to my parents and grandparents!

antmarobel said:

Now, about this information, I do hope that Apple looks to Brazil with more attention from now on

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I agree; in any case, I can assure you that the ONLY reason Apple Stores are not yet there is the high local price for imported devices. If you remember the story some time ago, SJ replied to the Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro's plea for an Apple Store by just stating that "your taxes are crazy".

I am of the opinion that, in order for Brazil to remain competitive, taxes WILL have to come down, notably those impacting energy and infrastructure costs. Brazilians have grown richer over the last years, with a continued decrease in inequality levels. The result? A bigger consumer market. The downside? More people ready to pay MORE for a status gadget.

As I said above, EVEN when you take all taxes off the price, you can easily see that companies are ripping Brazilian customers big time (especially in cars, motorbikes and electronics). So unless Brazilians themselves start talking with their wallets and demand more transparent pricing, companies will continue to profit from those consumers' willingness to pay.

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victorbla said:

Believe me. Brazil sucks!!!
You would hate to live here. I know that Brazil isn't THAT BAD. But still horrible to live here.

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Your opinion is pathetic, but I respect it. I am a native-born Brazilian and have lived there for 30 years before coming to Europe for additional higher studies and work - there are wonderful things in my country, as well as a good number of issues to be resolved. But every time I return (at least once a year), I see how vast the improvements have been compared to ten years ago or so.

Advice to you: if you stopped being a mongrel dog Brazilian and started being a little more patriotic (just like US citizens love to be despite their own problems), you would see that we are better than many countries in countless things. Just work hard and do your part instead of always complaining about the "government".

victorbla said:

Believe me. Brazil sucks!!!
You would hate to live here. I know that Brazil isn't THAT BAD. But still horrible to live here.

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You've been here only for a short time, but even that short time has been too long! Tchau!

The best support Apple could ever give remains the Apple Store and the Genius Bar.
In my opinion, Sales Chat support has the advantage of the immediacy, but still it feels much less effective in deciding whether and why to buy a new device than a live support from an Apple Store.

AppleDroid said:

Bob Loblaw?
Image

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Charles in Charge!