might try again

[first fool]

About three years ago I was interested in pursueing this - I had a bad experience on my
first try and gave it up. Basically  I bought an address of a girl from the Ukraine -
from a Company I remember being called Eros out of NY- in short - 2 days later my Credit Card Company
called to inform me that they had stopped my card - someone had stolen the number and charged $4500
worth of stuff to an address in Moscow - please understand this was also the first time I had ever used
a card to buy anything on the net--bad luck maybe-but it didn't add up so good in my mind - well now I
am back - thinking about trying again - in any regard - can any of you gentlemen recommend a couple of honest agencies that
deliver on their promise -Please fellas no lectures - just a couple agencies you believe deliver -
I will also note that in looking at a couple of sites - I have seen many of the same gals ads 3 years since -
even on this Jack fellows site(no offence intended Jack I know you are well respected on this board)....
anyway - if you've a mind to - give me a gentle push in right direction...kind regards to all...the first fool

[Stevo]

... in response to might try again, posted by first fool on Jul 9, 2002

I used Anastasia International pretty much exclusively (European Connections a little bit).

Was always satisfied with their services.

Hey, I found my wife using Anastasia, so how could I NOT be satisfied!

Stevo

[Oscar]

... in response to might try again, posted by first fool on Jul 9, 2002

I have been 4 times and used agencies 3 times.  The last time I went I used just personal ads (with Jack helping on things like flats, interpreter and train transfers etc.).
If you want to meet women who are not in agencies, run some personal ads as 95% of these women who respond will not be in agencies.  I would run the ads a few months before going, so you can start writing and calling some of the women, and then run them again 2-3 weeks before going, where you will pick up a lot more before you go..
The photo you use and the wording of your ad will make a huge difference.  Also, it is very important to be able to have a local city address and phone number for the women to send their letters and photos to and to be able to call.  When the women see that they can contact someone locally for info and to send their photos, they are much more likely to do so than if they have to send them to the USA.  You can put your USA email address on it and you will have some write to you directly from that as well.  
Girls were calling my interpreter at 2 and 3am in Dnepropetrovsk to get more info or try to set up meetings before I got there!! LOL!
If you take this approach, you will minimize the scammer possibilities by 90%..

I am not saying you cannot meet some nice girls in agencies, but I only wanted to meet women who had been in agencies for less than a few months because many can become quite spoiled rather quickly when they start meeting a lot of guys.. not to mention the scam factor of many of the women AND many agencies.

My 2 cents..

[Ramblin]

... in response to might try again, posted by first fool on Jul 9, 2002

I recommend A Foreign Affair for their selection but it requires writing letters that stand out with sincerity and a promise to visit in order to not be behind hundreds of other letters to the same lady.  I recommend Aethena agency in Sevastopol.  If you are in that city near the Black Sea, they can get you dates with sincere ladies for a very small fee (I think it was $8) and on very short notice.  They also have the normal web site and typical agency services.  I recommend Olenka-Club in Sevastopol.  Not much of a selection at all but you will not find more sincere and helpful owners of an agency anywhere.  I recommend this agency ran by Elena in Kiev, "russianwife.kiev.ua".  The thing about this agency is that their best ladies are not on the internet and the search engine on their website will not show ladies that it should, but Elena will definitely come through for you and get the fine babes to meet with you.  All of my recommendations are in Ukraine.  Agencies to stay away from are Russian Girls Club, Kherson Pearls, European Connections E700, and many others.  I never used the First Dream agency to meet ladies but I also strongly recommend the owner Jack for your back up plan or any connections in the FSU that you will need.  Just insist on a female interpreter if you use any of his connections.  Trust me on that one.

[Mark H]

... in response to recommendations, posted by Ramblin on Jul 10, 2002

Ramblin,
Are you saying that because the guys are attractive? I used Ilya with Jack's service and he is a nice looking young man. However, I never felt as though the girls were "checking" him out instead of me, quite the contrary. I liked having Ilya around. I consider myself quite handsome and Ilya and I attracted alot of girls just walking around. We met several girls in pubs, restaurants, etc... We never had a waitress that I didn't talk to or who didn't ask about me. I think Ilya looks as though he's from Sweden, what do you say? I never met Rostik.

Mark H.

[Ramblin]

... in response to Re: recommendations, posted by Mark H on Jul 10, 2002

Well, Mark, although you are correct that Ilya is a good looking guy and I even told him that he would fit in well in Southern California with the beach babes, he is not the guy that I had in mind so lets just leave it at that because my proof is not concrete until more guys speak out.  I have heard from another interpreter that I use who told me that he has more than 6 former clients from this particular interpreter hitting on their ladies.  One guy from this board wrote to me and told me that this interpreter wanted to do his lady so bad and that he preferred older ladies.  I have my strong suspicions based on circumstantial evidence, therefore I cannot make an accusation but still feel that newbies would be better off not taking such a risk.  I mean let's use a hypothetical generalization.  Suppose you used the services of a young good looking Ukrainian guy as your interpreter and you noticed that although you and your lady were hitting it off, your lady and this interpreter were hitting it off too.  And after you leave and they both promise to e-mail you and they don't.  Then the lady e-mails you professing her love for you after the amount of time it would take for this interpreter to use her and dump her.  If this interpreter really wanted your lady and you were back in the U.S.A. and this interpreter was right there in her same city, they could get together.  Now if your interpreter was a female, nyet problem.

[Mark H]

... in response to Re: Re: recommendations, posted by Ramblin on Jul 12, 2002

Ramblin,
I had no idea. I see what you mean and I agree whole heartedly. Well, there's only two male interpreters in kiev, I guess I know who you are talking about. How many guys came forward?

Mark H.

[Travis]

... in response to might try again, posted by first fool on Jul 9, 2002

Maybe I'm one of the few, but I didn't use an agency. Nothing against them, just I don't have any expierience with them. I wasn't looking for a lady from the FSU at the time. Believe it or not, I found my fiancee on excite.com. Sorta by accident, but while looking through local ads, hers showed up. Turned out her best friend lives in the same city I do and placed the ad for her. It worked out fairly well, I never worried about being scammed by an agency. Mostly at first we wrote in English. If she is serious, the odds are she can find a friend to help with the translations. Sometimes she will want to use a professional translator, as she will not want her friends to know...ummm...intimate things. Whatever, I think you know what I mean. In the meantime, learn Russian...I'm still trying, I just can't pronounce anything right

[DJD]

... in response to might try again, posted by first fool on Jul 9, 2002

My Ukrainian wife and I met on www.matchmaking-service.com.  It is a French site with profiles from around the world,  Neither of us spent any money, but it is possible to purchase additional services if you like.  However, they are not an agency.  Best of luck in your search!

Dan

[Dan]

... in response to might try again, posted by first fool on Jul 9, 2002

The websites I feel are at least pretty good are:

www.firstdream.com
www.peoplehelpers.com
www.kissyou.com (also known as Eros International)

I know the folks that run each of these agencies and find their ethics and honesty to be of the highest caliber.

I also know of one website that I'd recommend you steer clear of - and it is:

www.agencywcs.com

Reasons are numerous, but I'll recount just a couple of quick ones for you:

* I have met, and know personally, at least 2 of the ladies on their website - and I *know* they have Ukrainian boyfriends/husbands and the girls are actively scamming western guys.
* I know two people that worked (past tense) for the owners of WCS (West Coast Services - based out of the west coast of Canada), and I know some of the shenanigans the owners have played on western (mostly American and Candian) guys.

Take it FWIW - and good luck.

- Dan

[MarkInTx]

... in response to might try again, posted by first fool on Jul 9, 2002


Opinions of agencies will vary.

Where do you want to look?

What are you looking for in an agency?

DO you just want some ladies addresses, and handle everything yourself... or would you prefer to have the agency also perform introductions, help you with the Visa, etc...

You don't tell us enough about you to give you good advice...

[first fool]

... in response to Re: might try again, posted by MarkInTx on Jul 9, 2002

Opinions of agencies will vary. "Yes - I quite imagine"

Where do you want to look? "anywhere in the FSU"

What are you looking for in an agency? "an honest one that is run professionally - their particular style I will adapt to."

DO you just want some ladies addresses, and handle everything yourself... or would you prefer to have the agency also perform introductions, help you with the Visa, etc..."My preference is to get to know a couple/several ladies as well as possible - by letter, e-mail, phone - and then make the trip - with the good advice of you men and/or an honest agency - I would not care to go on a tour "cold" and hope to meet someone"
You don't tell us enough about you to give you good advice...hmmm...I will just assume (perhaps wrongly)...that you want to know something about me .... the short version...I am 43...very fit...sane...single...no bills..no baggage...reasonably successful...have had my fill of many AW....not that I don't like them ...not that I have any trouble attracting them(I meet-go out etc with many)...it's just well...and god bless them...they have(in my age range anyway) to much baggage...now this is a generalization...but I seem to meet 2 basic kinds - ones with too many kids, too many bills, too much other baggage - or I meet what I call "a woman in man's clothing" - she is a career woman - she wants to be the boss - anyway - I am sure many of you have heard thus before so I will stop - the first fool

[MarkInTx]

... in response to Re: Re: might try again, posted by first fool on Jul 9, 2002

[For all of my detractors waiting to pounce -- here is the disclaimer: ]

This is simply my opinion... since you asked...

If you read the dispute below over Kherson Pearls, you will see that one man's scam is another man's good agency...

There are few absolutes in this process.

But here is what I would do if I were to start over again (which THANK GOD I'm not doing...)

I would pick a place and focus on it for my first trip. I would assume that I would NOT find my lady the first trip over.

I would pick a small botique agency that I could talk to the owner of and get a good feel for the way they do business.

Firstdream is not a bad choice for this. I have worked with Jack in the past and can say that he has always dealt honestly with me. Jack is very well connected for Kiev and Odessa. Also St. Pb, but I would stay away from there... just me...  (www.firstdream.com)

I am slightly partial to Kherson, and if I were to choose Kherson, I would not hesitate to contact A Kherson Rose. (http://www.khersonrose.com/) Johnnydude will be quick to point out that I never used them to find a girl.. but I feel that they are honest, and they always delivered what they had promised.

In both of those agencies, the owners are Americans, and will spend time with you... talking to you on the phone... advising you... etc.

Then, I would go over, and have a great time. Again, go over expecting nothing.

The second trip... you won't have to be asking us advice... you will have a feel for what fits you best. (Yes, it is going to take AT LEAST two trips... Probably more...)

Now then... if I were serious about getting married... I would contact RW, a frequent poster on here. Her approach is different. She basically becomes your personal mathcmaker, and you pay her (mostly) after she finds you a match. (You can look through the archives for one of her posts and contact her from her profile info.) She does not own an agency, per se. But she is from Vladivostok (RW stands for Russian Wife) and her mother works at the university there, so they have a network in place. (One problem is that her women tend to be younger... so I don't know how effective that would be...)

If I just wanted to buy addresses and write women... personally, I would stay away from all free sites. They are heavily patrolled by scammers.

A site that gives you a good response for not much money is ArtSalon. (www.artsalon.as) You join for a month, and I had several ladies respond when I wrote them, and seem sincere.

Of the Megasites that just sell addresses, my personal favorite was Scanna. (www.scanna.com). I just liked their lay-out.

I would also say that I do think that one personal ad is worth more than 100 addresses... but, again, opinions vary on that.

Good luck!

[Stan]

... in response to might try again, posted by first fool on Jul 9, 2002

personally,,,, I only used an agency to get addresses,, not a "tour". Try "A Foriegn Affair" or "European Connections".
Don't freak if you see the same girl on more than one site, sometimes when they decide to go for it,, they "post" themselves on many different agency sites. Trust your gut feeling. I didn't on my first attemp and it taught me a lesson.
Good luck and if you get 1/2 as lucky as me,,, your life will never be the same.   (mostly for the good!)  
Steve

[Patrick]

... in response to Re: might try again, posted by Stan on Jul 9, 2002

A Foreign Affair has several web sites registered here.  No doubt you'll see a lady's photos on more than one site in this case.  Doesn't mean that the lady posted her ad in more than one agency.  Even if she did, it doesn't mean she's a scammer.  It's what I would do if I were one of these ladies.  Maximize your exposure to get better results.  The ladies are looking for men and want the best chances of success, just as the men do.  Perhaps the percentage of scammers among ladies who are listed at multiple sites will be higher, but that would just be speculation and may, or may not, be true.