I rate things by starting out at a 10 and then letting the experience maintain or degrade that number.
The other day, for professional reasons, I decided I needed to upgrade to a smart phone. I visited the local Verizon store to look at phones but the 1 person at the store was so busy with one other customer that I had to leave and come back the next day. (-1, now at 9)
I went back to the Verizon Wireless store 2 days later and the same guy remembered me and we chatted about phones. (+1, back to 10)
We had settled on looking over 2 phones, a Blackberry and a Samsung Omnia. Over the next day, I decided I wanted the Samsung. At this point the salesman offered to sell me his personal phone for a great price. That didn’t sound right. Then the next day and day after he kept trying to tell me I wanted the Blackberry. (-1, 9)
I called Verizon and the nice person on the phone set me up with a plan that I was going to pay for and changed my plan… so my plan changed and the overall cost wasn’t as much as it could be. That took about 90 minutes maybe. The plan I was on, “evenings” started at 7PM. With me changing plans, I was brought up to speed and now “evenings” are at 9PM. I hate corporate greed. (+1, 10)
The address I gave them wasn’t the address it was sent to, but I got the phone anyway. (-1, making the score a 9)
I charged the phone and then I proceeded to get lost in all the new touch screen scrolling menus. Eesh. No problem though. I went to activate it online and it didn’t work. I called and found that what I thought was set up wasn’t really. I’m not sure if the words used were misleading or my anticipation was getting in the way of hearing.
I had spent over an hour on the phone and when I hung up I thought I was all signed up for everything I needed. I’m pi**ed. (-2. I’m going to have to not only go through that whole process again, but it was a total waste of time. 7)
I called Verizon back the next morning and I got a “Chris.”
Whether it was because I already knew what I was headed into or he was very pleasant to talk to or a mix of both, I don’t know, but he happily and patiently (I think they’re all patient) walked me through activating the phone. (+1, 
After that, it’s all me as I realize that I can no longer use a phone… at least a smart phone.
It’s been 10 hours. I’ve learned how to make calls, how to be super careful when typing, I’ve hit the internet and saved a few sites to my favorites and have a few news headlines at my beck and call now. A little later on, I’m going to log on into my home network and cruise the internet via the WiFi on the phone. That should save me some battery power. I think.
I give my whole experience, after deductions and bonuses, an 8 out of 10.
Now, I just have to wonder: When will they invent a cell phone that just makes phone calls?
