Thought & questions on many agencies, feedback needed

[isamu]

Greetings ladies & gentlemen, boys & girls, dogs & cats.
I’m here, after a period of trial & error, observation and the like, to bring some observations & questions on all this complicated “Russian mail bride” stuff.
I tried many services & there’s a lot of mixed….”points” on each; let’s see:
RUSSIAN BRIDES CLUB: Plenty of astonishing girls featured there, there’s really many dolls listed. However, their business model is a stinky piece of ****, tried a few things there, but they just try to drain your wallet to much & without any shame it seems, overly expensive to try to contact the girls you like-even the ones you don’t like seem to be expensive, unclear advertising & options…It doesn’t looks well, most likely the gorgeous girls are false too 
DREAM MARRIAGE: Plenty of astonishing girls featured there too, the service system seems a lil bit more stable, fixed costs for credits & communicating, though a lil bit on the expensive side. But 1 thing I did not like was that for..”more intimate” communication with a girl you have to pass a quota of already (spent) exchanged letters, so getting the girls contact info is complicated.
ANASTASIADATE: The first I ever joined in my quest, long before discovering forums like this, didn’t seem that bad, in theory a good business model, but….I have ordered in the past 5 videodates, last 1 just a couple days a go, and they all EVER seem to go wrong, to much waiting time, problems with the loading & transmission- technical problems (and not on my part, I have a very good PC) at the end of all the “white noise” I get a “there is a problem on the lady line side” prompting me to order another 1 for another day. A real pity for I had great hopes & great interest &…feelings for a couple ladies there, but I’m currently reconsidering my status there.
RUSSIANEURO/UKRAINEDATE: Seemed like good options, even though I’m not quite ok with some stuff, aside of how you have to upgrade membership cause there’s plenty of girls with different membership class I do not like their crappy search engine, it repeats from time to time profiles you have already bypassed but also how it reaches its “2000 limit” prompting you to make a new search narrowing your criteria if you happen to want to check more profiles…and after doing so wanting to hit your desk cause it brings little or NO results, and I’m not talking about extreme narrow criteria but merely choosing for blondes from Odessa to give an example. Also how useless their IM service is. Disappointing.
CUTEONLY:  In theory looked like an excellent site a god option to meet some nice ladies…but…nope. Very few women (at least in my age interest) & very flaky. The search engine could be a lil improved perhaps, but overall is fine. As said before, not many women & the ones there not quite responsive/enthusiast, you write to them  a few mails but don’t want to give you their contact info, or if they do, they just communicate for a couple more mails before ceasing contact, even when all seemed fine, going well, they just cease. Lena <sigh> this girl from some forsaken town in Ukraine was all giggles & enthusiasm on the first couple mails, I bothered to study a lil bit of history of her area to try to make a better bond, sent her some pics (which I absolutely hate, I’m not photogenic in the least) even a small video, I tried to be nice & make the communication as enjoyable, fluid & simple as I could, but her bad English didn’t help, neither that her cybercafé didn’t seem to have the equipment for videocalls (oddly enough 1 of the pics she sent me was obviously from a webcam in a cybercafé) I tried to help her, told her to ask some of the employees of the cybercafé to give a help to understand her cause I wasn’t comprehending her “slang” (what the hell means for computer communication not having “columns” in Ukraine? If someone can explain it I’ll be thankful) Nothing mattered, she ceased communication. Bad bad bad.
ELENAS MODELS: Somehow a fav around here, though I don’t know why. I mean, honestly I have not paid/upgraded membership, so probably I’m not that qualified to talk about it, but…What for? I mean, aside of being quite expensive, truth is, as a basic member I’m not impressed, very VERY few women (again, on my age range) and nothing quite striking looking. For having such a name “MODELS” I’m not a big fan of (catwalk/fashion) models plain & simply cause I “ironically” don’t find’em feminine, I don’t like androgen specimens, but I suppose the use of the word MODEL is for trying to convey the image, the idea, that they deal with a plethora of gorgeous dolls spectacular enough to give any PB playmate-penthouse pet- NUTS magazine girl a run for her money, but….that’s definitively not the case, AND I DON’T INTEND TO SOUND MEAN, EGOMANIAC, PRESUMPTUOS, EVIL or anything like that, just stating a fact just as I see it. Then again, maybe if I upgraded the membership to the top, the “gates” would open for me giving me full access to the “full” search engine & profiles with all the Buffy Tylers, Irina Voroninas, Lucy Pinders & Candice Swanepoels on the site…but I doubt it.
MERRYDATING: I’m not convinced, the crappy extra basic search engine they provide just don’t compel me to upgrade membership, and I for one like to see what I would be buying before taking out the wallet. I understand perfectly not giving a lot of info, pics etc, but not being able to execute searches with some custom criteria….nope, me not like.
FIANCE.COM: On the fence on this one, not the best layout nor search engine, don’t fully get the how to contact the “non independent” girls without falling for the same crap of the other services.
BRIDE.RU: The same…not quite sure, confident on it. Don’t know, can’t pinpoint my finger to it but there’s something that makes me hesitant.
BLUE SAPPHIRES: I have checked it plenty of times, but it seems it hasn’t been updated in a long long time, the same “new” ladies for months.
LOVERS PLANET : Nice little site, joined recently, but suffers so far from the same lack of women that other previously mentioned sites. Doesn’t seem to have much activity. And I’m not quite convinced on wasting over 40 euros to try to contact 2 (only2) girls that really have caught my eye :/
The only service left I think is RUSSIAN LOVE MATCH, which seem nicely done, features some gorgeous girls…but I have this nasty feeling that it would be the same as RUSSIAN BRIDES CLUB & the likes.
So that’s it folks…What’s next? Is all this just a great scam, is there honesty…& hope on such venture? Tell me please, your thoughts, experiences, analysis, etc. What’s going on with this services? What else to expect? (and please FOCUS on the subject of the thread & the content, I don’t want to hear “what’s with me” that I’m not man enough, that I aint  a great socializer, charismatic, entertainer. I don’t care. That’s not what I’m asking) I may be not rich, but I’m willing to go to great lengths to make something “special” happen, all within reason for I don’t want to spend a huge premium with the promise of an agency filled with playmates & just getting “plain janes”, nor having to spend over 300 dollars so I can try to get contact information, spend plenty of money on good letters that seem to be going great just to see the next day the lady’s profile disappeared or some crap like that. Also, as a little side note, anyone knows about a site to date BALTIC women? Estonia, Lithuania,Latvia? Everything seems to be based on Ukraine & Russia.
Please, help me out people, afterall, that’s the whole purpose of this forum, isn’t it? To help each other on this matters.
Hope to get some great replies, thanks in advance.

[JohnDearGreen]

Are you looking for an agency to marry, or are you looking for a lady?
I walked in to an agency once and the lady manager at the front desk asked me
for a date.  There are some good ladies in every site. 

The only service left I think is...

There are many more sites.  Just google on "Ukraine dating" or "Ukraine marriage"
or maybe include a city name and you will find a couple hundred sites.

I don’t want to spend a huge premium with the promise of an agency filled with playmates & just getting plain janes...

You have mentioned that you are not rich, so I suggest you not try to start at
the top and work your way down.  Set a realistic goal.
 

anyone knows about a site to date BALTIC women? Estonia, Lithuania,Latvia?

There will be fewer and more selective ladies there.  Suggest you avoid them.

So, how many ladies did you seriously communicate with on the above sites, and
how many of those had a serious interest in further communication with you?

[Kuna]

Strange post...  but I'll play...

Have you ever gone speed dating and you sit down across from a woman and all you can think of is how uncomfortable the chair is???

Ever been on a coffee date and called it a total failure because the coffee was bad?

Ever picked up a woman, got back to her house and changed your mind because you saw she owned a white car?  How boring right??? The type of woman we want would never drive a white car!

I think you're WAY too focused on the websites - maybe because deep down you're not ready to find a lady?

I know lots of guys use other excuses for not finding the right one...  Is it possible you're using the web sites as an exucse why you've not found someone to connect with yet?

Seriously,  I think if you reassess your search, the reasons for your search and the type of woman you're looking for - you will focus lesson the quality and functionality of search engines and more on finding what you want.

btw... EM is definitely NOT expensive compared to some of the "pay per transaciton" sites you mentioned.

Maybe if you list what you are looking for here we'll be able to give advice if any site (or any woman really) is likely to meet with your expectations.

Best of luck,

Kuna

[dbneeley]

In your long complaint post, you continue to harp on the idea that ladies on the various sites are either "not beautiful enough" or "not numerous enough" in your target age range.

First, how old are you and how old are the women you seek?

Second, kindly give some examples of ladies you consider "beautiful enough" for your standards.

Third, what kind of budget are you dedicating to this pursuit?

It will help greatly in this manner to determine how realistic you are in your preferences.

Most of the time when I have read this sort of thing, the man involved was completely unrealistic himself much more than it was a matter of shortcomings of the agencies' selection of ladies.

Of course, there are many fundamental problems with some of the agencies and how they operate--including some of the ones you cite.

Now, I'm not a particular defender of any given agency--I never used one, in fact. However, if you find Elena's Models "expensive" then I would suggest you are simply not prepared for the kind of costs frequently associated with finding a mate abroad.

David

[Shadow]

Lets add to the pile-up. How many women in your age range are you looking for ?

If you want to find women without paying for contacting them, a social network might be the thing you want. Though not many of them are actually created with dating in mind, they are used.

[neo]

write to woman
get on plane to meet woman in person
like women -> proceed
not like women -> not proceed.

Simple enough?

[ECOCKS]

Someone said strange post. Another rant from someone whose search is apparently unrealistic and colored with anger, insecurity and frustration. This seems more common lately but maybe it's just my imagination.

[LAman]

Not sure what more to add, other than a guy being REALISTIC in their search, similar age range as home and is it really for marriage?

I have tried several different sites...... social(free) ones, PPL's and unlimited( monthy cost), I don't see big differences as long as you use their rules, look at more than just pics and meet them within a few months. I think meeting and spending time in person is most important. Writing is like foreplay... did I say that????

Anastasiadate- not site to use without much expereince corresponding with FSU girls...NO video chats, waste of $$$, use their phone system or flower delivery to get girls contact info( only ways). If you have a local phone # you can give it)

Fiance- good to get your feet wet, can write like crazy, yet get small letters back( at times 2 sentence letters), usually useless contact info from girls.

Globalladies- again, not good for beginners but at least you can their phone numbers in letters but no pics in letters.

EM- I don't see why it is fav amongst many, it does seem to be more 'dating real' but again contact info useless when writing/ phone cease rather quickly , models, what models?.......and by coincidence letters come in shortly after paid membership ends.

I find it interetesing to look for girl in different sites, maybe you can find her in a relatively less expensive site. I don't recommend sites but I do think guys have to look in the mirror. This billion dollar industry( ???) was built.... not by young beautiful girls or their agencies or even the interenet sites but of the many western guys that threw $$$ around just because some beautiful young girl said 'Hi'....... IMHO

[Jumper]

If you want  help , then forget the crappy agencies with tons of photoshopped Swanepoels
you already know its is fantasy only.

Get the fantasy out of your head at spending $300 for ANY membership  will open up a world of playmates who are enthusiastic to communicate with a man who doesn't speak their language or live in their city.

 Candice,Buffy,  etc all have fairly active social calenders, they arn't hanging out at Anastasiaweb or any other such place.Women that LOOK like them for the most part are not either,unless paid to do so.
While perhaps frustrating , that's the reality.

You seem to have done a bit of research.

Simply *Can* the sites like Anastasia etc.. any place that has a bevy of photoshopped beauties is out to glean looky lous that never travel.They are ALL exactly what they  appear to be.

Places like Elena's are far more representative of real life ,so not surprisingly tend to have more real profiles and real women behind them.

Several social networks offer another option..

While some would advise you to write and establish communications ,(which i agree with)
you havnt had much luck with that.
So my thought is instead of endlessly searching the websites and seemingly have ghost writers frustratingly disappear on you..
i long ago would have simply visited the country , or countries, in question on a vacation.
or a *fun fact finding adventure* to get the read of the land and situation.
In your scenario ,using someone like Jack who has a good understanding of the local agencies to arrange some things maybe..?

It is incredibly easy to waste a lot of your time on agencies like Anastasia..etc..
if you get someone who contacts you consistently ,doesn't mean she'll have any interest at all once you show up.

The truth? All the agencies are flawed.
You simply do your best to wade thru the *white noise* within them.
Some are far worse than others.

Out of your list , yes i'd say Elena's is one I'd recommend.
 If you cant find an attractive women (to you) that is also interested in real communication from there..
then going to such sites as Anastasia is a step in the very wrong direction.
 You seemed reluctant to even send a photo, better get past that ,because of course the Candice type women want to see what you look like as well

I wish you luck ,
 
There is nor genie in the bottle with agencies,
no wishes will make  decent ones appear, or change the reality that most beautiful women are not going to
be listed at any of them.

 I wish i could give you  some helpful list of great agencies,
yet the more i've dealt with them, *in the FSU*,the more i'm convinced  they at root are mostly the same.
Some have more favorable business model(or affliate partnership) that encourages a higher percent of sincere profiles,while others have one that encourages sham.
You can however find  a sincere woman listed at even the most sham agency,the odds are just less and
the search time greater.

[isamu]

Thanks to AJ & LAman, you seem to have grasped what I tried to say & offer some good comments, very welcome after all the gibberish I had to read previous to reading your posts.
Candice, Buffy...I know those are fantasies, but mention them as examples of what a gorgeous woman is & would like to "find", obviously such specimens would be getting drunk at a nightclub or being banged by some junkie rock star rather than writing in a personals site to communicate with someone as "unglamorous" as us, as you said guys unfortunate, but thats the way it is. Though as fantasy/reference I still think it is valid
I was serious with this whole thing from the beginning, perhaps a little to eager. I wasnt looking for a fast marriage, that I think is...."unwise" a few letters a couple visits & get married? Sounds soooo cute...but  dont think so. I was willing to exchange letters, pics & videos (which again I hate to do, BUT did anyway) some gifts (never went with that in the end) visit her, spend time with her & see what developed, HECK I even tried browsing some real estate sites to locate simple apartments in Odessa & learn some Russian, tried to plan a good "strategy", but this past weeks, this past experiences had left me wondering....Is it worth going further? Is there any sense on keep on spending something like a couple hundred per month?.........?????
Maybe I should call it QUIT...<sigh> and return to the hunt in the local scene, which Im not very happy about, the only "viable" alternative is keep  on stalking (again) touristic sites. A pity, I REALLY wanted something nice, "special", passion-romance....but being romantic is not really cutting it Try to override that with gutural-instinctive stuff I guess, tourist wont...forge a great "bond" afterall, gringas are not relation material but for some good laids.....that would have to do. Definitively not what I wanted, nor want, but...<sigh> anyway, thanks again to you guys. I'll be thinking about this matter for a while, calm-cold headed, theres no hurry afterall, just asses the situation & take the proper course of action.
Thanks again.

[spectris]

After spending some time with agencies in person, I have to agree and disagree with everything.  The agency owners (the REAL ones that actually have met the woment they represent anyway) are probably just not that computer savy and they let someone else manage their website or are an affiliate to some other less reputable site since they the need traffic and $$.  It's a business remember. 

I'm like everyone else, I would love to be able to sit here at home on my computer and find the young and beautiful Stacia, but I see now that's probably not going to happen online.  You really do just need to go and meet with the agency folks in person and have realistic expectations.

It really can work for you though...

 

[Gator]

isamu,

You are a prime example of not seeing the forest for the trees.


These search engines will not guarantee compatible women.  All a search engine does is narrow the women to a manangeble number from whom you can select a few to BEGIN correspondence that should soon lead to telephone conversations (or Skype preferably).

ELENAS MODELS: Somehow a fav around here, though I don’t know why. I mean, honestly I have not paid/upgraded membership, so probably I’m not that qualified to talk about it, but…What for? I mean, aside of being quite expensive....

If $99 for 6 months of contacting women is expensive, stay home.  Perhaps you are not reading EM services correctly. 

truth is, as a basic member I’m not impressed, very VERY few women (again, on my age range) and nothing quite striking looking....

The women at EM are more real and sincere than the beauties that hooked you into video chats at Anastasiadate.  How much did those two chats cost?   

BTW, what age range do you seek?  Maybe you specified and I missed it because you wrote too much.   

[I/O]

Would the Mods mind terribly if I used the "I" word?

[dbneeley]

This gentleman still seems a bit unclear on the concept and unwilling to give sufficient information for the most helpful suggestions.

Like too many, too, he seems quite ignorant about what a true "model" may look like in real life, outside of the highly posed photographs of a fashion photographer. At various times, I have been exposed to some ladies who were either quite successful models or actresses, and in their day-to-day life they often looked far worse than many might believe who only saw them when fully made up.

For example, when I was still a teenager, I was assigned to be a coordinator for a beauty contest by the radio/TV station I worked for (KSIX/KZTV in Corpus Christi, Texas--the contest was part of a promotion by the Houston Astros). Personally, I found the girl whom the judges picked wore far too many cosmetics and looked quite artificial, while another young lady was the type who needed no cosmetics at all to look truly stunning. About three years later, many people became quite familiar with the winner of that little contest--her name was Farah Fawcett.

Later on, I was part of the Information Office staff at my military base, and our office arranged a visit by a group from Hollywood at a post-wide holiday celebration. Almost to a number, the girls involved looked somewhat emaciated in person--cameras for some reason often tend to add visual weight to a person, so many women who look amazing on TV tend to look too thin in person.

In these and other events over the years, I learned that natural beauty can be quite different than the artificial kind that forms the daydreams of so many somewhat unrealistic men.

David

[Gator]

Would the Mods mind terribly if I used the "I" word?

 

It might be permissible because the I-word was not in isamu's list of prohibitions.

I don’t want to hear “what’s with me” that I’m not man enough, that I aint  a great socializer, charismatic, entertainer. 

Nevertheless, dbneeley did not hesitate.

Like too many, too, he seems quite ignorant...

You were not thinking of that particular "I" word?   

Yes, something is amiss.   Reminds me of Shadow's description in that spirited thread of the typical male client at HRB.   

[dbneeley]

 

It might be permissible because the I-word was not in isamu's list of prohibitions.
 

Nevertheless, dbneeley did not hesitate.


You were not thinking of that particular "I" word?   

Yes, something is amiss.   Reminds me of Shadow's description in that spirited thread of the typical male client at HRB.   

Unfortunately, someone who posts is not completely in control of the comments he receives--often ones he *should* welcome but equally often does not.

Experience often has the effect, though, of allowing one to become wiser as well as older, if only the person learns from that experience. As most of you have figured out by now, it is usually much easier to learn from the experience of others instead of making the mistakes ourselves. ("Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment." Barry LePatner)

David

[Muzh]

Hi Isamu.

Not going to tell you what's wrong with you. Just going to ask you a couple of questions.

What you expected from "dating" women from the FSU? Because this is NOT like the local dating scene at all.

Do you know any of the cultural differences between you and these ladies? From what I read, you are thinking thsi IS local dating.

If you feel inclined to answer, maybe we could give you better advice. Keep in mind that some of us are married to some of these treasures for quite a while and would like to pay it forward; even when it seems that some are beating you over the head with a baseball bat.

What say you?

[Jumper]

isuma-

Honestly i'm not sure why you seem to be  having trouble raisin some RW's interest level to wanting to call you or have you call her.

As i've stated I think many(most) agencies are poor, some worse than others.
yet despite that i've never had a big problem or had to spend much time on even the poorest of your  examples to get some very attractive women to be open and want to communicate.

The worse the agency is , the more *noise* you'd have to wade through, but still it was always possible and not really terribly difficult.
It is  by far ther easiest part of the journey.

as i mentioned before, if you are getting discouraged from dead ends (and there will always be a lot of them )
I'd go visit there ..
if you cant seem to line up someone interesting to visit ,then use Jacks services to line up local agencies he trusts.

In my prior post i was very generalizing about all agencies being the same.
It was really in reference to the *large ones* that most encounter on the 'net.
AFA, EC,HRB,DM, Anastasia.. I just dont find a big difference in them.

This was not fair to the smaller affliates, that can be good, or some of the independents based there in the FSU, or
 here, like Jacks   .. First Dream.
To be honest i always think of jack more as a service provider,
arrangements for travel, arrangements for flats, intyerprereter or meetings ,as weell as recommending local agencies there, and often forget he has a good reliable agency as well.