I bought my first ever Suica & N'EX yesterday after waiting for something like 30 minutes in a long queue at the JR East Service Center in the basement of NRT T1. The only time I tried to buy one previously (after finding out about it in the FT Japan forum) the agent told me people born in Japan weren't eligible through they might hold a foreign passport. It was a fib but the experience deterred me from trying again until now. I wish I had tried earlier as I have been paying more than twice what it should have cost for travelling on N'EX for the last few years.
The queue at around 10am on Saturday morning was very long, almost everybody except me waiting to exchange their Japan Rail Pass vouchers. Four counters were open and staff seemed to speak passable English. (I was going to speak to them in English if they were going to be akward again but it wasn't necessary.
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What you get for 5,500 yen is a Suica card with 1,500 yen credit and two N'EX tickets – one for travelling into Tokyo and an open ticket for a return journey from anywhere in the greater Tokyo area to NRT T1/2 within two weeks.
An open N'EX ticket and a Suica card
The first ticket includes a reserved seat on the first available N'EX unless you ask to travel on a later train. For your return trip take the second (open) ticket to any JR East ticket office for seat reservation. You can do this any time up to the departure time. A reservation may be changed once free of charge up to the time of departure of your original reservation. Apart from a few early morning trains there shouldn't be any difficulty getting a seat at the last minute. BTW when a ticket inspector walks through the train they won't ask to see your ticket if you (or someone else!) are sitting on the allocated seat.
As soon as you get your Suica and two N'EX tickets, put the Suica away at least until you reach your destination. All you need for your travel is your combined N'EX ticket/seat reservation. Don't touch the card reader at the ticket gate in NRT with your Suica card or a fare will be deducted from your Suica.
The N'EX ticket is valid from Narita Airport to
any JR East station within the coloured area. If you need to change to Metro, for example, you will have to pay separately, but you can of course use your newly acquired Suica card for this.
How to use and charge Suica may be found
here.