Trusted/reliable agencies (?)

[isamu]

Hi people, the newbie is back here.
Now, after much thought about it, I decided to start this thread, specially since I wasn't able to find anything..."conclusive" with the search engine, so please bear with me (and mods, if this is the wrong sub-forum my most sincere apologies)
The question is actually very straight forward and simple:
What agencies do you find the most reliable, honest, sincere, helpful? The best options for short.
Before anyone with too little patience grabs the rotten tomatoes box, please, consider the plethora of options out there and the many scammers, dishonest entrepeneurs and the like.
I don't write this to bother anyone but rather to ask sincere help from all the guys that have already gone this path for a while & thus had accumulated more or less experience and knowledge on the matter.
With all the options out there....heck...is hard. I started with Anastasia (international,web,date, whatever) some good points. though no bed of roses for sure, and with the bad reputation I see it haves here...well.
Dream-Marriage, another one, haven't gone full throttle on that one, seem to have some "nicer" plans, but also seem to have a bad rep.
Then one day browsing around for match sites, I found russian brides club, funny lil layout, nice looking girls, explored the site the options....BUT HOLY GUACAMOLE BARMAN!!!! the damn thing is expensive!
Joined Fiance.com, but it has turned to be....annoying, poping me all the time to upgrade without letting me check many girls. And theres lies another problem I have encountered over and over, "free" joining sites that are way to restrictive, I dont mean in contacting the femmes but on even letting you make a search!
Global ladies has changed it's name so many times I lost count.
And so on, so I ask to all the "veterans"(and not so veterans) to help me out (and other ones) providing links and comments about agencies. I guess we could rate'em in....honesty, more bang- for- your- buck plans, prices, customer attention, etc etc etc
cuteonly seems fine, considering getting more into others as well, like russian-euro, freepersonals.ru, bride.ru, but in the end no real idea of how they play. All matchmaking sites promise heaven, but not all are for real, in this quest one have to be cautious as to not fall prey to scammers.
So please people, PLEASE, I ask for your help & guidance on this journey.

Thanks in advance.

[UTRO]

Elenasmodels.com  I married one

[Turboguy]

I will second that Utro.  I had the platinum membership at Elena's and it was worth every penny.  Heck it was worth twice what I paid or more just in terms of value rendered and if I factor in that I met my wife there it was priceless.

[munna]

3rd EM. Lucky Lovers also has some nice girls but I have encounter 3 scamers asking for money in 2 months. I have not had any trouble with EM this far. Keep in mind I have still not been to FSU yet!!!

[Dave13]

I used lifetimepartners.com, but that was in 2002, 2003, but I keep in touch with some of the agency staff, Anna my wife used to work for the agency.

Dave

[ECOCKS]

4 for EM.

[Jumper]

some i'd recommend

Elenas models..
member here Jacks  -   First Dream



not agencies but some free sites-
 
freerussianpersonals
mamba.ru
vkontake.ru
odnoklassniki.ru

[Chicagoguy]

Do you really need an agency ?  Maybe because I had been to Russia before I got along fine without them. Try FreePersonals.ru or Mamba.ru.

[Admin]

Hi people, the newbie is back here.
Now, after much thought about it, I decided to start this thread, specially since I wasn't able to find anything..."conclusive" with the search engine, so please bear with me (and mods, if this is the wrong sub-forum my most sincere apologies)
The question is actually very straight forward and simple:
What agencies do you find the most reliable, honest, sincere, helpful? The best options for short.
Before anyone with too little patience grabs the rotten tomatoes box, please, consider the plethora of options out there and the many scammers, dishonest entrepeneurs and the like.
I don't write this to bother anyone but rather to ask sincere help from all the guys that have already gone this path for a while & thus had accumulated more or less experience and knowledge on the matter.
With all the options out there....heck...is hard. I started with Anastasia (international,web,date, whatever) some good points. though no bed of roses for sure, and with the bad reputation I see it haves here...well.
Dream-Marriage, another one, haven't gone full throttle on that one, seem to have some "nicer" plans, but also seem to have a bad rep.
Then one day browsing around for match sites, I found russian brides club, funny lil layout, nice looking girls, explored the site the options....BUT HOLY GUACAMOLE BARMAN!!!! the damn thing is expensive!
Joined *Unapproved Link*, but it has turned to be....annoying, poping me all the time to upgrade without letting me check many girls. And theres lies another problem I have encountered over and over, "free" joining sites that are way to restrictive, I dont mean in contacting the femmes but on even letting you make a search!
Global ladies has changed it's name so many times I lost count.
And so on, so I ask to all the "veterans"(and not so veterans) to help me out (and other ones) providing links and comments about agencies. I guess we could rate'em in....honesty, more bang- for- your- buck plans, prices, customer attention, etc etc etc
cuteonly seems fine, considering getting more into others as well, like russian-euro, freepersonals.ru, bride.ru, but in the end no real idea of how they play. All matchmaking sites promise heaven, but not all are for real, in this quest one have to be cautious as to not fall prey to scammers.
So please people, PLEASE, I ask for your help & guidance on this journey.

Thanks in advance.

In addition to asking for referrals (a VERY good idea BTW), you might want to try a couple of resources found here at RWD, as follows:

* The Agency Card (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?pid=6) is a small application that *may* help you evaluate and score the agencies you might consider working with.

* The Agency Code of Ethics (http://www.certifiedmarriageagencies.org/index.php?pid=2) is something you might use in discussions with the owner/manager of any agency you are considering working with. If you cannot find the contact information on the website to allow communications with the owner/manager - that alone should be enough to discourage your business.

- Dan

[GQBlues]

I met my loving wife at Elena's Models. Been married almost 5 years, known her over 6. So my info is 6 years old so please take my experience with EM relatively.

[ML]

Very first thing:

You MUST distinguish between
1) Marriage agency and
2) Match making website.

Yes, the agency may have a website, but the operations  of (1) and (2) are vastly different.

With (1) they are likely much smaller than (2) in terms of number of ladies and are probably focused only on one city.  And with (1) you may get some help, some hand holding and you will pay nickle and dime for everything.  You will have to pay separately for every individual woman you contact. Very hard to get away from the agency and continue with direct contact between you and the lady.  They will have a lot of ladies with no English skills, so you are going to pay through the nose for interpreters, etc.  They will almost insist that you rent apartment through them, use their interpreters, etc.  Plus, the agency really has no incentive to get you married.  If they help you get married, they lose the interpretation fees and they lose a woman who brings in a lot of fees.

With (2) you will find many that are free or have a monthly fee which covers unlimited contact for every lady listed.  After first contact, you and lady are free to exchange private e-mail addresses.

Yes, of course, someone is bound to quibble with my categorization of 1 and 2 by pointing out some firm that falls somewhere between my 1 or 2.
 
Overall, it would be extremely useful if we would stop using the term AGENCY when in fact we really mean something like number 2.

Despite fact that many people have recommended EM, I find them totally useless.  Not saying they don't have quality women, but they have women spread all over the FSU while at the same time having relatively few in a particular city (once you do your screening for age, height, etc.).

I find the sites such as Lucky Lovers, bride.ru, mamba, rbrides.com, etc. far superior to EM because of fact that these sites usually have 100X more ladies that meet a given criteria in a given city.

[Faux Pas]

Elenasmodels.com  I married one

ditto

[UTRO]

Pretty good referral success with EM judging by the Member response to your query
My info is more up to date than GQBlues'. I've known my wife 2 1/2 years and we'll have been married one year this April.

Good Luck!

[Turboguy]

Very first thing:

You MUST distinguish between
1) Marriage agency and
2) Match making website.

You forgot one ManLooking.   You forgot the Mail Order Bride companies where you pick your bride out of a catalog, send your money in and a few weeks later the postman drops off a big box that you have to be very careful opening.

Seriously, you are right.  We do use agency as a catch all and the term would be more applicable as you describe it.  Good point.

[Rutherford]

I too , married a Elena's Model , model  .   I had NO photo  posted at EM  and she still contacted me , well , she was writing to everyone  - not just me  and she was getting desperate and tried of the internet scene  - so was I   , that's why  I removed my photo  .   My wife's mom  is  a German  concentration   camp survivor   and is very strict  hard working woman  .  My wife is very loving and very strong too

[isamu]

OK, first thing first....
Thanks guys for taking time to reply, thanks a lot.

Now, let's see.....so far 7 votes for Elena's.
LuckyLovers......1 & a half (?)
some extra suggestions to check out, lifetimepartenrs.com is totally uknown for me, will check it out.
Luckylovera (and lovers planet) I had some problems, can't remember excatly what right now but.....
I'll browse around more the sites you mentioned guys, as for Elena's, only thing so far I can say in my few hours of "membership" is that I got "very few" search results, I placed my standards-marked my options, and so few...<sigh>hope it improves with the "membership", after all Im not looking for a J Scott Campbell or Terry Dodson pin-up (well...yeah,kindda) but there were so little results...anyway, hope it improves.
On another note....Do any of you guys have some experience dealing with cuteonly.com??? Russian-Euro??? Blue shappires??
and...just to get it out of my system...1st International.com??? (something tell me it is not on the "green & good to go list but I had to ask) Hmmm think that's all I got to ask for now. Can't remember other agencies now.

Thanks in advance.

[Turboguy]

Which membership did you get at Elena's if you don't mind me asking?   I had the platinum and the thing that worked really well for me was they gave the platinum members the first shot at the new lady members.   They sent a weekly newsletter with the new girls and after a week or so would add them for everyone to see.   

Let me ask another question.  How much overseas traveling have you done?  My reason for asking is there is another option you might think about and that is one of Jack Bragg's tours.   You can get info at www.FirstDream.com    It is a nice easy way to meet a lot of women very quickly and if you haven't done a lot of traveling sometimes visiting the FSU can be daunting and doing it with some other guys and someone who helps you step by step can be worth while.   Jack's tours are the only ones I would recommend but I do think they are very good.

[ECOCKS]

The gold level really should give you enough to look over.

If you don't mind my asking what search params are you using?

Come to chat if you've got a minute and we can look over what's making your EM experience different.

[UTRO]

OK, first thing first....
Thanks guys for taking time to reply, thanks a lot.

Now, let's see.....so far 7 votes for Elena's.
LuckyLovers......1 & a half (?)

On another note....Do any of you guys have some experience dealing with cuteonly.com???

Thanks in advance.

I originally used Cuteonly and dealt with two Women who ended up being scammers
You'll notice that a lot of Women, who send letters to you, are often Banned from the Site weeks later. Especially the more attractive ones. The good thing about Cuteonly is that they do move quickly in banning the undesirables.

[IAmZon]

I renewed my subscription to Elena's a couple days ago after a 2 year "zero keyboard romeo policy."  I am planning a trip in June.  I don't care much if I have some possibilities lined up in advance, or not.  If it happens, it happens.  Expectations can be a bitch:)

I realize that my age puts me on the boarder of a category - 45 - but I have good photos and am still eligible by most standards.  Now that I know what to look for, there are not as many desirable women as I saw before.  Professional daters jump off the page to me.  Plus, I have learned photoshop and can recognize the blur tool.  Also, I am not looking for only beauty queens, or young women.  I have come to learn that everything comes with a cost.  I

Anyway, the amount of response I am receiving seems to be less than 2 years ago.  Maybe I am just not trying very hard?  But, I have already seen enough to know, this is going to be a giant pain in the a$$. 

I like Eduard's idea of using Russian dating sites rather than sits that are all about foreign marriages. Clearly, in these sites there are ulterior motives baked into the equation - no matter how slight.  Any body know of trustworthy translators that can assist a non Russian speaker?

[Rutherford]

Anyway, the amount of response I am receiving seems to be less than 2 years ago.  Maybe I am just not trying very hard?  But, I have already seen enough to know, this is going to be a giant pain in the a$$. 

Wow , how many years have you been at EM ?   Maybe that's  why the responses  are less , you think ?


I loved  Blue Sapphires  , until I realized   90% only had a snail  mail address , rip off

[Faux Pas]

rivardco

What city are you planning to visit in June? Possibly you have not made up your mind, in this event I would suggest St. Piter. Most RW with whom you may communicate likely would be thrilled to meet you there. It also an amazing place with a lot to do. You'll run out of time before you run out of things to do and see. Many Russians speak at least a little english there. It's relatively easy to navigate and go it alone if you choose. I thought the woman there were very approachable.

If you are at EM's I would suggest you find and communicate with ladies who speak english. That may or may not save you the extra added hassle of a terp later on. If you need a terp there are many available.

If your profile on EMs has been on a 2 year hiatus, don't be surprised if your response is lackluster. You may want to do a completely new one.

[isamu]

I originally used Cuteonly and dealt with two Women who ended up being scammers
You'll notice that a lot of Women, who send letters to you, are often Banned from the Site weeks later. Especially the more attractive ones. The good thing about Cuteonly is that they do move quickly in banning the undesirables.

Thanks for the tip, I'll have it present when diving there.

[isamu]

I loved  Blue Sapphires  , until I realized   90% only had a snail  mail address , rip off

May I ask for more information about your dealings with Blue Sapphires? Theres a lady there that really interests me and Im pondering "buying" her addres. How does it works? What should I expect?

[BillyB]

 Theres a lady there that really interests me and Im pondering "buying" her addres. How does it works? What should I expect?

You should expect rejection. The chances are you and her aren't going to hit it off or she has a boyfriend now but if you want to buy her address and send her postal mail, go for it but don't put your life on hold and wait months for a reply from her.