New kid on the block...with lots of questions.

[isamu]

Hello people, good morning/evening/night. As stated Im new at the forums, and with many questions, well maybe not a lot but enough, so I come here looking for advice which hopefully you all will be more than able to provide. 

With that said, let me try to start; first if some of my questions have already been answered in 1 way or another my most sincere apologies, but I do have some problems with my old and loyal computer, search indexes etc etc etc.

Now; For little more than a year I joined a few Eastern European dating sites, kindda slowly kinnda cautiously, I contacted some nice girls, but very few...few.....how to say it..."bringed much to the table" I mean most on their letters only wrotte very few lines, "HI how are you, Im fine" and a handful more of words. There were of course a couple others that after some months of exchanging letters just <kapuff> dissapeared, they profiles just vanished from 1 day to the other. a little dissapointing for sure, but nothing totally heartbreaking. Now- hold on people- cause the main aforementioned site is.......ANASTASIA DATE (formerly A International & A Web) so far nothing serious nor susppicious overall, but "hearing" in some places like this, some blogs that they do not have the best of fames.
I would like your opinions, to get your input about'em.
Another 1 of the first I joined was GLOBALLADIES but I pretty much discarded it since they change of name more than I do of underwear.
Another that a couple months ago I joined (and got credits  :noidea:) is RUSSIAN-BRIDES-CLUB (which later realized have a..."sibling") nothing to serious on there, aside the fact that for the first (if Im not mistaken-mislead) letter many times you got to spend a LOT  of credits (incidentally enough, the main girl I got credits for dissapeared the next day I was compositing my message) Im still trying to decide to what girls reply and most importantly how the hell to balance my money/credit   
Another 1 I tried to join before was russianlovematch.com but once I joined (nickname-password) and tried the next day to browse again the site kept telling me I was unregistered to try to register, I said WTF?! I really tried to gave em a try, not only because they were portrayed-mentioned in a BIKINI DESTINATIONS special  but because at first sight their serach function seemed nice and with an overall good layout (even if the java/frame stuff can be a lil annoying) and finally boys and girl-ladies and gentlemen; Im poundering RussianEuro, seems to have some nice things. A blogger from where I found this forum actually, gave it kudos for being honest and the like. Other thing- both good & bad- is that they pics seem to be more natural, less studi like....sometimes to the point where it looks like taken with a cheap webcam  <cough-ahem> anyway, those are my "choices-options", so now guys: Your opinions?
Which 1 is most trusty and which is very suspect?
And considering your experience, YOUR knowledge of the matter....what is a better option money/credit per contact?

For your extra info people let me add this:
Im from Mexico city
Im not rich - damn it, actually Im having serious problems, social, on my machine, on my health and my relatives and of course the money drought these bring. I still manage to save a couple dollars weeakly to buy some extra credits the next, but (and as an aside note) I hate to delay so much on replaying to the girls Im interested-want to contact, but there I go- step by step.

On Anastasia theres some good "prospects" and not only that but actually an already special lady, whom I hope i can reply soon (unless things turn pretty bad again the next couple days) So for those in the know with Anastasia, What would be your best advice to maximize my money? If I ask for a live chat (no video just letters) can i ask this special girl for her personal address and e-mail, or will some middle man of Anastasia be there ready to block such a thing ???!!! What other route-option etc can I take? On RUSSIAN -BRIDES-CLUB I see the "speed contact bypassing the agency" option is far more restricted (damnit) But what about RussianEuro? They "seem" to use a by MONTH fee rather than a by LETTER fee, Is that right? Does that mean that...say, if I want to contact 300 ladies on the same month I can do it without extra fees? And also, Does the search engine gets fully deblocked? Can I place extra search parameters like....look for a blond or a redhead, green or gray eyes etc? I would really like to know your opinions, all your suggestions, your pros & cons about these services, etc etc etc
Again if something has already been answered or I didn't formulate a question the best I coul, my apologies.
I'll be waiting for your replies, thanks in advance.

[Faux Pas]

Hey isamu!

Welcome to RWD. isamu you seem to be caught up in the letter writing mill of the less than honorable agencies. These ladies that you did write to for several months, did you make any plans at all to get on a plane and go meet them? If the economy has you hurt financially, are you sure you can afford several trips to her and then bring her to you? I'm not trying to pry into your personal business but this is an expensive venture to say the least.

A likely scenario with the ladies you have already written is a) they were honest and gave up on you visiting likely concentrated on more sincere men b) They were dishonest and quit writing to in an effort to quit wasting their valuable time c) you were not actually corresponding with the ladies at all, rather a letter writer and you were not spending enough money fast enough to warrant replies.

isamu, if you are indeed honest and sincere, you are willing to invest the time and money required to meet an honest and sincere lady, you are likely going about this the wrong way. From your post, I detect you have "mail order bride" etched in your mentality. I realize Mexico has much different outlook on immigration than the US and other western countries but there are still some basic needs that must be met on the side of a sincere woman. One of them is that you get your butt on a plane and go to meet her. FWIW

[Turboguy]

I will agree with that.   You have picked all the worst agencys to work with.   Forget all those and do some reading here about who the good agencies are.   You will have much better results with ElenasModels, FreePersonals.ru, LuckyLovers, MerryDating, Bride.ru and lots more but all you will do with Global/A-Web etc is waste your money unless you have some unusual luck. 

Find some good women and go there and meet them ASAP.

Good luck

[BillyB]

Isamu, you are looking for love in all the wrong places. The agencies you are using got their hand in your pocket and you still feel good. If you want a fantasy, keep throwing money at them, if you're looking for a wife, you need to start reading a lot here and walk a different path.

Now; For little more than a year I joined a few Eastern European dating sites, kindda slowly kinnda cautiously, I contacted some nice girls, but very few...few.....how to say it..."bringed much to the table" I mean most on their letters only wrotte very few lines, "HI how are you, Im fine" and a handful more of words. There were of course a couple others that after some months of exchanging letters just <kapuff> dissapeared, they profiles just vanished from 1 day to the other. a little dissapointing for sure, but nothing totally heartbreaking.

If women are not responding to you favorably, you may need to rethink who you are and stop scaring them off. Of course with many of the agencies you're using, you're trading love letters with Igor, the employee of the month instead of real women.

[JR]

If money is a problem right now then go with the free sites such as the mamba network. But are you going to finance trips to the FSU and all the related expences of bringing a lady to your home country if you're worried about paying for a few letters? Just wondering...

[Sculpto]

Isamu..

Once again I want to ask you.. why search in the Former Soviet Union?  You live in an amazing city full of nice girls! 

That said.. there is a small russian community in Mexico.  You might consider trying to make contact with them in real life. 

http://www.kolobok.com.mx/

http://nadyanetwork.blogspot.com/

there is a forum also but I can't find it right now.

[isamu]

Well people sorry for delaying to reply. Now let see.
Yes, I know that trying to get aquainted with a girl from another country, let alone the other side of the world, would be less tna easy and anything but cheap. My financial situation is not good, I said that already, but I try to get afloat, hopefully soon things will change. Did I had intentions to take a plane and go meet'em? Sure, believe it or not I did; but:
I dont think less than 13-15 sometimes 10 letters is enough to push the "afterburner" and go to a far away land, &
It was a fu***g trouble to try to catch some possible flight, actually I just could find 2 airlines that "Sometimes" did fly to Ukraine (the netherland's 1 and AirFrance) and those are indeed sometimes they are not regular destinations; and talking about this very subject YOU all guys must remember 1 thing, Im from Mexico, pretty much different from your situations, so keep that in perspective whenever you want to send a comment about "getting there ASAP" "like to empty your pockets?" and the like, I dont like to waste money carelessly, quite the opposite, I receive a handful of letters from Eastern European girls, but I dont open all of 'em percisely cause I want to save my saved money for those that really ring me a bell (which believe it or not, as stupid or naive as it may be, I would like to say politely to them "no thanks but I wish you luck" I really feel like a jerk for not replying/talking with all) I dont want to waste so carelessly as if I had the combined fortunes of Bill Gates & Carlos Slim, that's all.
I do intend/want to travel to Ukraine when I get the chance, And I want to be "sure" the lady I pictured and wish for is real and not a script bot or an Ivan or Boris pretending to be that girl. Not much to ask, right?

So this is where (supposedly) you guys entered, to give advice and comments on the agencies and options, I mean, would it be possible to get a more detailed view on the agencies Im dealing with other thanan inane "they suck"? Honestly guys, the reason I joined those sites was mainly cause those were the first to appear at a google/yahoo search, and sure, second factor was a good site layout and some notable hooties listed. But it definitively wasn't in my mind "gee, I want a slav girl, LETS FIND THE WORST AGENCIES!!!  " So please cut me some slack 
If you got better agencies listed, please, do share 'em with me, pass the links to the agencies themselves or atleast the thread on the forums where they are, that would be really helpful.
And talking about getting there ASAP, how many times do you guys go there per semester if not more? what packages would you suggest for...the best bang for the buck?
Common, share valuable knowledge, guys Im waiting and eager.
Finally, for 2012isFiction, thanks buddy, i Pareciatte the links I proceed imediately to check em out, however about the beauties here and beauties there..."tastes differ" my friend, I would trade you a Jessica Alba or Jennifer Lopez for a Buffy Tyler or Shannon Stewart looking girl ANYDAY.
See ya later 

[Jooky]

Up to this point most likely you've just been throwing away your money. The sites you listed are known for scamming.

Tubo already listed some better sites:

www.elenasmodels.com
www.bride.ru
www.freepersonals.ru
www.luckylovers.net
www.merrydating.com

I would add some Russian dating sites:
www.singles.ru
www.dating.ru
www.russiandating.ru

I recommend the Russian sites much more than any of the bridal agency sites, but you never know where you meet the right woman, so all real avenues are an option.

Frankly, if you have limited cash, but more importantly, limited vacation time, I don't recommend this search at all.

Some questions:

What prompted you to search for a Russian bride in the first place?
How old are you? Have you been married before? Do you have any children?
What's your dating situation like back home?

[Turboguy]

The main difference in the sites you are using vs the ones we are suggesting is that the ones you use are "pay per letter"    When you pay for each letter and the fee for that letter is enough to be pretty profitable then less than honest agencies can make a lot of money by encouraging as many letters as possible.   Many of these have people on their staff who just sit there and write letters to you without the girl in the photos who you think you are writing to even knowing you exist.   I played with Global ladies a long time ago in my dumb stage.   My mailbox was full of stunning 21 year old dream girls who wanted to know me.   On a tour through that agency I talked to one guy who had been using Global Ladies for a long time with an average expense of $ 800.00 a month.  He was starting to realize it was a waste.

The agencies we talked about are NOT pay per letter.   Some are free.  Some charge a reasonable fee for a membership that lets you write lots of women as often as you want at no additional charge.   Stay away from pay per letter agencies and stay away from agencies that don't allow direct contact information to be exchanged in a reasonable time.

[Gator]

Isamu,

The women you see on the pages of Anastasia and other agencies you use are beautiful, yes. 

Why are there more beautiful women on their pages than what you see at the agencies listed by Jooky?

Answer:    It is part of a FANTASY being sold to you.  A few of these beautiful women are not real.   Others have no interest in meeting foreign men.  Some will meet you but only to spend your money without even giving you a kiss.  Of those who may be sincere, many have outdated photos that have been modified to make them look beautiful.  Some of the beautiful women are real and have genuine photos.  However, these women receive a lot of attention (just like beautiful women in Mexico) and are very particular about whom they meet. 

So why are these women writing you sweet letters? 

Answer:  They are NOT writing letters.  Interpreters are writing letters.  The women do not know you exist.  The interpreter’s job is to tell you sweet lies to give the illusion that the woman in the photo is having romantic feelings for you.   In fact, you may be trading letters with a man.

You are not alone.  These agencies stay in business because thousands of men are doing the same as you.  Lonely men with limited money

That is why everyone is advising you to use sites where you do not pay for each letter.  Real women write their own letters to you.  Try writing them.  The percentage who answer you will be much lower than at AnastasiaWeb.  However, it is possible that you can start a penpal relationship for free. 

You could save the money that would otherwise give to Anastasia.  And with your saved money you could travel to Ukraine or Mexico and meet these women. 

Good luck!

[I/O]

the best bang for the buck?

Doubt you'll get a bang for a buck anywhere in Russia now. Damned inflation....

[isamu]

Thanks for the input guys.
I do prefer the "membership" option over "per letter" fee, unfortunately I didnt catch'em before, (anastasia and co appeared first on google/yahoo ) certainly will try your options.
Which brings me to...I mentioned before RUSSIANEURO, I already joined (obviously free, haven't upgraded yet) they use the membership angle, though 2 kinds gold and platinum but, whatever, Are they a good realiable agency? Other one, I tried briefly LUCKYLOVERS, but didn't like much the site for all the locks on search (not contact) for ladies, to many limitations. Are they good too? Maybe I'll give 'em a try again if they are reliabale.
Once again thanks for the links to "trusty" sites, I'll give 'em a check, and will start the gracious retirement from the Anastasia and co playfield.
Still, if someone has extra suggestions, either on pay plans or reliable sites, let me know.

Thanks in advance.

[Sculpto]

Isamu..

Good advice being offered here. 

you might also consider setting up a profile on www.vkontakte.ru

It is not a dating site, its more like facebook, but, it is easy to search and add "friends" and correspond.. and it doesn't cost anything. 

[BillyB]

I mentioned before RUSSIANEURO, I already joined (obviously free, haven't upgraded yet) they use the membership angle, though 2 kinds gold and platinum but, whatever, Are they a good realiable agency?

You could always google the agency name and the word "scam" to see if any dirt turns up on them. Some complaints are legitimate. Other complaints are from disgruntled customers who couldn't catch a woman even if she fell into his hands.

[boaterguy]

I will agree with that.   You have picked all the worst agencys to work with.   Forget all those and do some reading here about who the good agencies are.   You will have much better results with ElenasModels, FreePersonals.ru, LuckyLovers, MerryDating, Bride.ru and lots more but all you will do with Global/A-Web etc is waste your money unless you have some unusual luck. 

Find some good women and go there and meet them ASAP.

Good luck

I am curious! Does global ladies really have that bad a rep? I guess I was lucky. Of course I had the hundreds of introductory letters, but only opened the ones that would suit me.(after reviewing their profile) Even had a credit refunded when a lady didn't reply. Never had a hint of anyone trying to scam me and the ones I did exchange more than 1 letter with seemed sincere. I was with them when they did the tours. Basically got all my letter writing expenses back off the cost of the tour. Went to meet the lady I was seriously writing and am now married to her for over 5 years!

[Kievman]

Hi,

I fully recommend trying the www.singles.ru AKA Mamba.ru site mentioned several times above. It's now in English, it's free, it's search parameters are extensive. All the girls you might meet in Anastasia et al have a profile here. They claim 10 million members but discount that allowing for duplicate profiles.

You can search for any age, single or divorced, serious for marriage, wants children, has children, blond, 46 Kgs, muscular build, lives in Kiev, speaks English, is an early riser, doesn't smoke and still find thousands to choose from.

The "letter writing" consists of a message window system where you can write to as many as you like. Of course you'll get the occasional scammer but you're smell them immediately.

If you're planning to visit Kiev you can communicate with 100's. narrow that down to a few before arrival and make your own date arrangements.

If you're a 60 year old man hoping to marry an 18 year old you might be wasting your time.................but all resonable expectations can be met using this service.

[Turboguy]

I am curious! Does global ladies really have that bad a rep? I guess I was lucky. Of course I had the hundreds of introductory letters, but only opened the ones that would suit me.(after reviewing their profile) Even had a credit refunded when a lady didn't reply. Never had a hint of anyone trying to scam me and the ones I did exchange more than 1 letter with seemed sincere. I was with them when they did the tours. Basically got all my letter writing expenses back off the cost of the tour. Went to meet the lady I was seriously writing and am now married to her for over 5 years!

No matter how bad an agency is someone somewhere met their wife through them.  I did three of their tours myself and got to know Kyle pretty well.  I think EC is honest enough.  The problem is that when someone like them works with a lot of small agencies whose revenue is determined by the number of letters and the percentage of women who respond there is too much temptation to fake letters.  Very few of the agencies who are on a pay per letter basis manage to keep their ethics as a guiding force.  EC always had a big testimonial page showing their successes and I am sure there were many.   

[Mars]

Hi,

I fully recommend trying the www.singles.ru AKA Mamba.ru site mentioned several times above. It's now in English, it's free, it's search parameters are extensive.

You can search for any age, single or divorced, serious for marriage, wants children, has children, blond, 46 Kgs, muscular build, lives in Kiev, speaks English, is an early riser, doesn't smoke and still find thousands to choose from.

I have not found what you say to be true.

First, I cannot see a way to do the type of search you state as a free member.

Second, I cannot see a way to pay for a membership.

For those who have had a different experience than mine, please respond specifically and separately to my points one and two.

Thanks.

[Kievman]

2. Depending on your location, there are various ways to pay. Sending an SMS to a premium number get's you 10 days VIP status for about $5. For $10 you get much longer.....I think 60 days but not sure. If you need the advanced feature it's well worth getting. If you can't get it in your country, I suggest relocating your profile to Kiev, try to Upgrade and it'll tell you the number and code to enter, PM me this number and code and I'll do it the 1st time for you. You'll then have 10 days to trawl the database. Find who fits your parameters and save them to favourites folder and they'll still be there after your VIP time finishes and you can write to them at your lesiure.
After the upgrade you can move your profile back to where you live but I suggest you leave it based in Kiev as you'll in fact attract letters from women without having to write to them.

[Misha]

Kievman is providing some sound advice. In my case, the basic search function was good enough to find plenty of women who fit the type that I was looking for. It took a bit more time, but I enjoyed the process.

[Al_C]

As I see it, the big resource limitation for you is money.  No matter how frugal your RW will be, it will still cost you some big bucks to get her here.  You need to get there, for starters, and then you need to get her here, pay for the visa expenses, and support her at least for a while until she gets adjusted to her new environment and can earn a paycheck.

So the name of the game here is to get the most bang for the buck that you can.  I cannot advise you well on the best sites to be on, but I can tell you that the pay per letter sites, while low cost in the beginning, will cost you more in the long run.  I used Elena's Models to meet my RW and am eminently satisfied with it, but the sign-up cost is a bit steep and might be too much for you.  Go there, see for yourself, and use your own judgment.

Don't be in a rush to get there.  First, if you don't develop a good relationship in advance, the chances of you returning home empty handed (and therefore needing another trip to meet another RW) is quite high.  Also, you just might get an invitation by your RW to stay with her in her apartment when you are there, saving you $1,000.00 or so.

As for airfare, try www.airfare.com, where I got my airline tickets for 20% less than the competition's prices.

Good luck to you.

[boaterguy]

No matter how bad an agency is someone somewhere met their wife through them.  I did three of their tours myself and got to know Kyle pretty well.  I think EC is honest enough.  The problem is that when someone like them works with a lot of small agencies whose revenue is determined by the number of letters and the percentage of women who respond there is too much temptation to fake letters.  Very few of the agencies who are on a pay per letter basis manage to keep their ethics as a guiding force.  EC always had a big testimonial page showing their successes and I am sure there were many.   

I wonder what Kyle is up to these days since his dream job disappeared? I agree that there are probably some of the agency's that do this. The complaint I here most often was the canned into letter scenario. My take on this is when a lady is not corresponding with anyone(at a legitimate agency) they tell the agency to unleash there into letter. The # of letters like this to me were hands down 10 to 1 from the Ukraine. I didn't know my wife's 1st letter to me was 1 until we had been together for 8 months! Yeap, my heart sunk for a little while, but a little rationalizing and all was well.

I witnessed the goings on at my wife's agency quite a few times. It was a legitmate operation.

[Turboguy]

I think Kyle had a better time on some of those tours than a lot of the men attending did?   So he is not with EC anymore.   I got to know him pretty well during my three EC tours but haven't had any contact with EC or Kyle since those days.

I am sure that of the agencies that work with someone like EC or A-Web some are legit and some are not.  I do think someone is better off without using an agency that charges per letter.   Just too much temptation for most agency owners. 

I can recall being a little shocked when they announced they were dropping the tours.  I am sure EC still makes a bundle of money but I think AFA has passed them by a big margin in terms of total business.  I believe EC was about a 20 million dollar business in those days.

[apple47]

  I can't comment on agencies as I didn't use them.  I found my wife on friendfinder.com  .  I used the reverse search option. 



....................................................Larry

[isamu]

  I can't comment on agencies as I didn't use them.  I found my wife on friendfinder.com  .  I used the reverse search option. 



....................................................Larry

hmmm...quite an interesting turn.