Oh don't worry, Cingular is run by a bunch of money-hungry bastards too. My company works for both of them and Verizon is actually easier to deal with on my end.

The way Verizon cripples their phones, I'd only recommend them if you just want a phone you can talk on and no real gimmicks, or if you get something that runs its own OS like Windows Mobile, Palm, or Symbian.