... in response to Stupid agency or am I unreasonable?, posted by Ramblin on Apr 13, 2002

we got Pete,  meetin'  these 19 year olds.  Shame on you!  I mean unless you are 1 very HOT dude.  38 years...little long unless you are thinkin' of adopting.  In the other corner----Now,  we got this Tim M guy tryin' to be the mouthpiece for what can only be an agency out to makeacouplabucks.  A little high- end parade of 19 year olds for the 57 year old gringo.  Bring 'em on.  We will take your money thank you very much.  "Matchmaking"  Just whatareya talkin' about.  KR is just fleecin' a sucker.  $100 bucko's for our hard work.  Yodeyode!  The girls get a free lunch or dinner and KR gets too much dough for settin' up the meetings.  And the girls complain.  He's too old.  Why don't you tell the girls??  Duh!  You know Timmy boy,  maybe KR should throw some bucks the girls way---'cuz sounds more like an escort service---- you and your pals are running.  You should be paying them 50%.  Are you gettin' the drift there,  bucko.

Shame on both of you.  And,  Pete,  maybe 29 would be a better starting point.  And Timmy M,  your justification posts are cute...but worthless.  Ramblin?  If you and I were in Kherson...the last place to go would be KP or KR.  You know why???...they both smell like 10 day fish.

... in response to Re: Isn't all this so very cute.....In 1..., posted by KenC on Apr 15, 2002

and for some reason...I can't see the 19 year old girl seriously going to seriously meet a 57 year old guy.  And seriously considering marriage.  Unless he's Harrison Ford or Sean Connery or something like that.  

I seem to have absolutely no problem with 20 or 25 years age difference...maybe that extra 13 years is just some mental bloc which I have.  Here most guys can spend some time with 19 year olds...but most likely they will be working for an escort service...37,  57 or 77 is not a problem.

Probably,  I mis-understand how the mechanics of this agency works.  As I understand this scenario: A 57 year old guy walks in off the street,  plunks down $100 and gets to meet 7 girls,  all marriage minded 19 year olds who would marry a 57 year old guy.  Apartment for the night included.  And he takes each one to lunch or cafe or dinner and they talk.  Just sounds like rent-a-date to me.  With their deal---thats $14 per introduction per girl and a little date.  Thats a pretty good deal, methinks.  It would be nice to have such an agency in my area...I can assure you...they would be very busy.

I would think an ethical agency would try to explain to Europete that his odds with a 19 year old bride are very thin and maybe he should reconsider.  Maybe refer him to another agency with some 29 year olds.  Take a referral fee.  

I don't know Ken???  I read the thing and it all came-off as ludicrious to me.  As I try to reconsider this...I am forced to conclude that Pete had a really good bargin here.  He shoulda been able to connect with just 1.  But that didn't happen.  And I am not too clear on just what Pete is lookin' for.  Sour grapes.  Let the buyer beware.

... in response to Re: Yeah!  I am very sure they did---, posted by KenC on Apr 15, 2002

Well, here you guys are again (or still) with wrong information.
Maybe you imagine that Kherson Pearls has an office in Kherson that a person can walk into off the street. Not so last summer; at least not one I ever saw. It was cell-phone calls and strange meetings at different locations with Alex, so I never saw an office one could walk into.
And after looking at the catalogs and giving the mother-in-law answers to her questions about me, she set out to make the arrangements for meetings. How much time in advance should a lady be contacted to meet someone before you distinguish between "walk-ins" and "pre-arranged"? They all had at least 1 day. One day, one month? Where is the difference. And what I really INSISTED on with a young girl is that she be informed of my age, so if it is a problem with her she can say no. Very simple! Alex always said "Try to meet her, you never know"!
My roomate in Kherson had used Kherson Rose to meet a lot of girls, one of whom he eventually married, and he informed me of their organization and how they worked with him. And he was a "walk-in".
As far as I am concerned, when I called Alex and asked what their program and pricing was, and he told me, that is what I expect to receive for the monies I am asked to pay. Maybe I am too demanding, to expect to receive what is agreed upon for a set price. But that is the way I am! If someone wants my money, they need to deliver what they promise. If not, don't expect to be paid by me. Maybe you guys are not of the same mentality. Your choice!
And how do you figure I owe Kherson Rose $60.00???Beats me!
So I wonder, before this month, have either of you 2 been to Kherson, and used the services of Kherson Rose agency?
Are you speaking of them from your personal first hand experience?
One last thing. Give me your opinion on this if you will.
Another practice of Kherson Rose agency last year was to charge men $7.00 per hour for the use of an interpreter other than Alex(i.e. a female interpreter). Of that $7.00 per hour for the interpreters services, the interpreter was paid $1.00 per hour, Kherson Rose keeping $6.00 per hour.
Tim(of Kherson Rose) tells me that they feel that was o.k. since all businesses charge more than they pay their employees. While that is true, is is in my mind quite unfair to the interpreters for an agency to take such a large percentage of the income for themselves and give so little to the employee, especially when you are aware of the economic conditions in Ukraine.
Can you imagine working for 5 hours, watch your boss getting paid $35.00 for your services, and then have him give you $5.00 for what you just did?
Tim now says they have changed their policy on interpreters, and now charge men $5.00 an hour and give the interpreters $2.00 an hour.
To me, such a practice reeks of greed.
Would you guys agree or not?  

 

 

... in response to Re: Re: Yeah!  I am very sure they did--..., posted by europete on Apr 16, 2002

If what you say about these interpreter fee's is true, I find it amazing!

Hey Pete, sorry for getting in on the tail end of your thread, I have been tied up the past week with a kidney stone that doesn't want to budge. Hopefully today or tomorrow I can share with the board a recent experience with Kherson Pearls.

All agencies are different and they will conduct business in a manner that they want. We charge our clients on average $5 to $6 an hour for interpreters. Sometimes, if there are several hours involved in a single day, the price can come down to $4 a hour. This is discussed and agreed upon in advance with the interpreter. A few of my employees and certain interpreters might charge $7 an hour, and here we are only speaking in Ukraine, as some parts of Russia the going rate is from $5 to $12 an hour.

If one of our clients is charged $6 an hour for an interpreter, do you know how much of this $6 the interpreter actually makes,....? The will make $6 an hour.  What are client is charged is paid directly to the interpreter. Many of these interpreters work very hard and in our opinion they deserve every cent they make. We, as an agency, do not feel we need to make any money from our interpreters. Over the next two weeks I will employee about 25 interpreters. Each of these interpreters know, as each of the dozen men on the current group tour know and the three or four other guys in Russia and Ukraine at this time know what the going rate is for these interpreters.  We tell our clients in advance what we expect them to pay for interpreters. If I have a client who wants to pay one of these interpreters $1 or $2 an hour, quite frankly I don't want them as a client. Our interpreters know in advance what we expect them to charge. In most of Ukraine our going, quoted rate is $5 an hour. In Kiev it is $6 an hour. In most of Russia it is $5 an hour. In St. Petersburg it will vary from $7 to $10 an hour and Moscow from $8 to $12 an hour.

All agencies are different and who is to say what one agency does is right or wrong, excluding out right scamming or un-ethical practices.

... in response to Re: Amazing!, posted by Tim M on Apr 17, 2002

Tim,

 Basically it will be 12 or 13 interpreters in Odessa and the same in Kiev (one interpreter per client).

 I really don't want clients who think they can pay these people a few dollars an hour and think there doing them a favor. This type attitude sickens me. This is the type of client you can never please and I don't want to mess with them, instead I recommend them to call Anastasia (he-he).

 Also Tim I have had a couple of bad experiences with a couple of agencies in Kherson, because of it, not knowing a good, reputable agency there, I have been relunctant to do anything in Kherson. I have had several clients wanting to hand deliver a letter or flowers, etc. I have one client now wanting a flat in Kherson. I think, after reading a little about you and your agency, I would like to contact you.

... in response to Stupid agency or am I unreasonable?, posted by Ramblin on Apr 13, 2002

For whatever its worth, i used khersonrose a year ago. i thought their service was pretty good, and the mother and son, who run the operation in kherson, did a very good job.the only complaint that i had, was the matress on the bed, was something to be desired. it was like sleeping in a sleeping bag, on the ground in the woods. other than that, i was very pleased with their service. as for the women, some were good, some were not. a few scammers, but in all, they were very nice. it isnt the agencys fault, if a girl doesnt like you, or vise versa. i think they try not to have girls who are not serious about meeting somone to marry. the best advise i could give you. ask them  if they know the girls personaly. they will tell you, if she is really interested in you, and what her true intentions are. also, you do see a lot of the same girls on diffrent agency web pages, but that seems to be the norm, espically for girls who have been on one agencys web page for a long time. my $.02 worth