Honest agencies

[JoePublic]

Hi Gents,
I’m new to the site, but have been reading the posts for some months.
I’m going to Ukraine at the end of this month.
Tried to arrange meetings with the girls I’ve been in correspondence with, but suddenly they have become unavailable i.e. heard no response, women is going abroad, not available on those dates.

My question is can anyone recommend legit agencies they have personal used to meet real ladies?
Ideally agencies used in-country to meet women.

I haven’t had much luck with free sites, freepersonals.ru or mamba.ru
The pay sites I have used are charmingbrides.com (which I now think is a scam), luckylovers.com

Any advice is much appreciated.
Thank you

[Faux Pas]

Hi Joe!

Try this one. It's not any agency per se' as it is an introduction site

http://www.elenasmodels.com/

[Faux Pas]

Opps

[TwoBitBandit]

The whole agency gig is dying a slow death.  In Russia it's almost completely dead.  In Ukraine it's hanging on by a thread just because Ukraine is such a basketcase.


In the "old" days of this quest, agencies were necessary because there was no other way to get in contact with the girls.  These days, the girls who want to meet foreigners can get their own internet access.  So, the sites like Elenas Models and freepersonals are the places to meet girls now.  If you've got your act together and a plan you can try Russian-language sites like mamba.ru.  If you go to visit you can just find a freelance interpreter to help you out while you're there.

[Jack]

Hey JoePublic,

I will respectfully disagree with TwoBitBandit's assessment that the agency gig is dying.  Although over the last four years I have seen many good and honest agencies go out of business, almost totally due to " the crisis'  as it is referred to in Ukraine and Russia (the world economy),  during this same time period some rather questionable agencies have flourished.  And in the past year I have seen, and met, several new start-up agencies in Ukraine.    With Russia, yes, there are fewer agencies and the, what we use to call Russian bride business, is certainly operating at a much slower pace there than in Ukraine.

As I have written many men on my mailing list and advised them, the number of men going to Ukraine and Russian this year is already more than we saw last year or the year before.  With the interest I am getting from men so far this year, and plans many are making for next year, their will be even more men going to Ukraine, and Russia, next year than this year.

[Gator]

As I have written many men on my mailing list and advised them, the number of men going to Ukraine and Russian this year is already more than we saw last year or the year before.  With the interest I am getting from men so far this year, and plans many are making for next year, their will be even more men going to Ukraine, and Russia, next year than this year.

Interesting Jack, very interesting.   Thanks for sharing, because you would know.
 
How do the numbers compare with pre-2008 and 2009-2010?   Qualitative estimates are fine.     

[Jack]

In 2008 is when things started declining.  2003, 04, 05, 06, 07 many foreign men were going to the FSU.  The first half of 2008 I could feel and sense the slow down, it became obvious the second half of 2008.  All of 09, 10, 11, has seen a big slowdown.  In 2010 and 2011 there were half the number of men going compared to 06 and 07.

[Patagonie]

I agree zwith Jack that agencies are not dead in Ukraine. They just adapt their business. Some have died surely, the business has slowdown but still presents.

About Charming Brides, with which cities are you corresponding ? Because they are many affiliates and as usual, if you are answering to beautiful girls who are sending you sign of interest, you are surely only corresponding with terps. But there are reals girls here and i have met them, at least three i choiced to meet, after few correspondances, i met her.
The question is which cities ? Why need you to spend tons of money to exchange letters with expansive correspondance agencies ? Write fews, or any and take a plane.

[Turboguy]

The internet has changed the world and I am sure as more and more women in the FSU use the internet that it will have an effect on agencies just as it has newspapers, travel agencies, big box electronic stores and lots of other businesses.  However we still do have newspapers, travel agents, electronic stores and MOB agencies and I think we will for a long time, maybe fewer, maybe smaller but they have not reached the end of the road by a long shot.


As far as good agencies I would second the vote for Elenas.  It is where I met my wife and prior to meeting her I met a number of other women who were real.

[XMan]

As difficult as it may be to believe, there are actually some good agencies with decent people.  It seems that there are many more of the bad agencies, of course.  But a good agency, particularly one who actually knows something about the women they sign up (which generally means a single city agency), can be extremely helpful.  Different approaches work for different men, but the agency approach is still a viable option. 

Often the cost of an agency is viewed as overly burdensome.  Well, there is a cost no matter what approach one takes.  If one can sift through the free sites and find a real woman who speaks decent English who is actually interested in meeting a foreigner (and has serious intentions), I think that's pretty impressive.  How much is your time worth?  Again, assuming one can find a good agency where one knows that a majority of the woman have serious intentions (few pro-daters, scammers, etc.), one can save tremendous search time and therefore money.  There is some value to that, IMO. 

A good agency will answer your questions (with real answers rather than BS or something you want to hear).   A good agency is not necessarily inexpensive.  As with most things in life, one gets what one pays for.  I've had a woman's original letters scanned and e-mailed to me just as part of the service.  Yes, in some smaller cities women still write letters by hand (a crazy idea).  There still are women who cannot afford computers or Internet access or cannot write from work, etc.  Jack is on the ground and knows better than I, but my friends in Ukraine are seeing things worsen economically, not improve.  I have a friend who had her salary cut 3 times over the past year, and then left to take a position at a different bank, for example.   I have another friend who lost her job after being in it for 6 years.  Computers and Internet access are actually still a luxury for some. 

Unrelated, but one recommendation I can make with great confidence. 
After you make some sort of connection in the beginning stage (regardless what approach you take to make that connection), if you can take the time to actually write a few sentences by hand, even poorly translated online via machine translation, and send a card, you will make a positive impression.  Any serious woman will be amazed you put out the effort.  Believe me.  In fact, I will go as far as to say that if she is not excited and impressed by you putting out the effort to do that, you should ponder that lack of positive reaction and what it means. 

My $.02. 

[Faux Pas]

As difficult as it may be to believe, there are actually some good agencies with decent people. It seems that there are many more of the bad agencies, of course.  But a good agency, particularly one who actually knows something about the women they sign up (which generally means a single city agency), can be extremely helpful.  Different approaches work for different men, but the agency approach is still a viable option. 

Often the cost of an agency is viewed as overly burdensome.  Well, there is a cost no matter what approach one takes.  If one can sift through the free sites and find a real woman who speaks decent English who is actually interested in meeting a foreigner (and has serious intentions), I think that's pretty impressive.  How much is your time worth?  Again, assuming one can find a good agency where one knows that a majority of the woman have serious intentions (few pro-daters, scammers, etc.), one can save tremendous search time and therefore money.  There is some value to that, IMO. 

A good agency will answer your questions (with real answers rather than BS or something you want to hear).   A good agency is not necessarily inexpensive.  As with most things in life, one gets what one pays for.  I've had a woman's original letters scanned and e-mailed to me just as part of the service.  Yes, in some smaller cities women still write letters by hand (a crazy idea).  There still are women who cannot afford computers or Internet access or cannot write from work, etc.  Jack is on the ground and knows better than I, but my friends in Ukraine are seeing things worsen economically, not improve.  I have a friend who had her salary cut 3 times over the past year, and then left to take a position at a different bank, for example.   I have another friend who lost her job after being in it for 6 years.  Computers and Internet access are actually still a luxury for some. 

Unrelated, but one recommendation I can make with great confidence. 
After you make some sort of connection in the beginning stage (regardless what approach you take to make that connection), if you can take the time to actually write a few sentences by hand, even poorly translated online via machine translation, and send a card, you will make a positive impression.  Any serious woman will be amazed you put out the effort.  Believe me.  In fact, I will go as far as to say that if she is not excited and impressed by you putting out the effort to do that, you should ponder that lack of positive reaction and what it means. 

My $.02.

Xman makes some excellent points. If I remember correctly he has utilized a few agencies? It should be noted that even in good agencies there can be bad women. Even the best agency can only go "so far" or help to a point. The onus is always going to fall on both the man and the women to find their match. This is with the good agencies. With the bad ones, the results are generally predetermined.

On the expense, it is recommended to choose the agency wisely. Choosing unwisely can become very  expensive and sidetrack your intentions. Yes there is expense at every step of the endeavor. Much expense with good or bad agencies or going it alone. Bad agencies tend to make that expense greater before you reach your goals.

If you are okay with that, pay this post no heed and move on with the agencies with the prettiest pictures and good luck. 

[XMan]

Xman makes some excellent points. If I remember correctly he has utilized a few agencies? It should be noted that even in good agencies there can be bad women. Even the best agency can only go "so far" or help to a point. The onus is always going to fall on both the man and the women to find their match. This is with the good agencies. With the bad ones, the results are generally predetermined.

On the expense, it is recommended to choose the agency wisely. Choosing unwisely can become very  expensive and sidetrack your intentions. Yes there is expense at every step of the endeavor. Much expense with good or bad agencies or going it alone. Bad agencies tend to make that expense greater before you reach your goals.

If you are okay with that, pay this post no heed and move on with the agencies with the prettiest pictures and good luck. 

FP is right.  Advice to take to heart. 

Indeed, I used several agencies.  Again, everyone has different experiences and each man's personality and background may influence his choice of agency or no agency, big city or village or in between.  Going off the beaten path is, IMO, not a bad idea.  Large cities (Kiev, Kharkov, etc.) may seem to have more choices by default.  But I think it's the number of good choices one has that is most important, not just the sheer quantity of choices.  I made friends in Kharkov (in an unplanned way), for example, but the agency women were hugely disappointing.  Yet, so were the non-agency women I met there.  So while I could recommend an interpreter there, and a couple of nice apartments, I wouldn't bother going there were I starting out fresh.  I am sure there are men here, however, who met their wives there.  Thus my point about background, personality, and individual experiences. 

If you are interested in a small agency with good people in a smaller city (250,000 or so), PM me.  It is off the beaten path, however, so it requires some effort to get there.  But you'll get the kind of personalized service that is rather unusual today. 

[JJames]

Hi guys,
When I registered as JoePublic I used a disposable email address and got banned (good start), so I’m now registered as JJames.

Very interesting to read the comments and recommendations.

Helpful to know about the current situation in Ukraine.

Patagonie, to answer your question, I’ve been writing to a few women mainly Poltava, Odessa and Kharkov.
I haven’t responded to signs of interest, as like you, I am a little suspicious.

In general, I wouldn’t mind the cost of the letter writing/translation, if I was sure the letters were legitimate and not just written by terps.
Would also agree it’s best to get over there as soon as possible to meet the women rather than exchanging letters.

Having been burnt in the past by agencies, it’s encouraging to hear that members have had successes.
I would certainly agree with Xman, in that a good, legit agency that has genuine women looking for a foreign man would save time and probably expense, even taking into account the agency fees. However I believe the difficulty is finding such an agency. I will check out those agencies recommended by members.

Looking back it would have been best just go to Ukraine at the start, hire an interpreter and try and meet the women. However this could be rather hit and miss. So now, at this stage, I’m checking through sites and trying to set up meetings before I get over there so I don’t waste my time when I’m there.

The problem is I don’t hear anything back when I try to arrange the meetings or the reps say just come into the office when you get here.

On my experience you have to assess the agencies as well as the girls. I believe it’s useful to ask relative questions of the agencies and getting specific answers. If the agency doesn’t respond or gives general answers then it’s probably not worth using.

Xman, that’s a great idea about writing a few translated sentences. It would help to show you’re interested in the women and help to gauge her interest in you. I would also agree that the quality of the matches is more important than quantity.

Would agree with Faux Pas that choosing the wrong agency could work out costly if you don’t realise quickly enough that it’s dishonest.

Interested to know what you guys think.

[Faux Pas]

JJames

It's certainly "differn't strokes for differn't folks" and one size does not fit all. You taken information and processed it for you. This is good. It sounds like you may have decided on fishing a few agencies and preparing some due diligence for a WMVM trip. Whatever floats your boat. Many have blazed that method before you and swear by it. It's no better or no worse than others. What makes the difference in success or failure is the man. Keep your big head on straight and let it do the thinking.

Good Luck

[flyer1]

I met my wife through "allbeautiful.net".  I wrote to 2 and visited 2.  We have been married for almost 4 years.  And have a a baby girl.  It was the best decision I ever made.  I do not know how all beautiful is now but, 4 years ago I was treated well and I am still happy with my decision.

[Patagonie]

For many reasons Odessa is a risky city for a beginner. And i have never heard of an "honest agency".
About Poltava i think it is a good city to prospect, but i don't know any agency here and it is not one of the big one.
About Kharkov, read my previous posts and you will find a lot of informations. A lot of good agencies here.
In a general manner you can exchange letters with "trustable" agencies, previous the travel. But NOT with unknow. Anyways, with the support of a preselected terp (very important) you can go anywhere and ask to any agency. Just ask the phone number and make the second date with YOUR terp. If the girl is relunctant to come, drop her very quickly.
You can exchange mails with charming brides of Kharkov, this affiliate has real girls. For others affiliates don't know. About how to use Charming Brides read my previous posts.

[Eduard]

JoePublic,
with all the popularity of Elena's on this forum I've heard that there are scammers and prodaters on their site too. And that the better looking, younger women can be bombarded by so many messages from Western men that the competition is not much different from looking for a pretty woman in the West - they have too many choices of Western men.


About 90% of my clients were able to find their wives/girlfriends/fiancees on local Russian dating sites and they were able to do it in just a matter of 3-4 months without having to deal with scam, prodaters and spending years on learning the ropes. The other 10% either refused to follow my advice or had personal issues that prevented them from seeing things through.

I'd say that the vast majority of FSU women who are looking for A relationship with A man have personals ads on one or more of free local Russian dating sites and there are millions of single FSU on these sites. Even several thousand of them who already live in the USA, Canada, Western Europe and S. America. IMO it makes very little sense nowdays to limit yourself to MOB agencies and expose yourself to so much scam by using them.

If you have time, you can just learn as much Russian language and culture as possible and invest several hours a day browsing through thousands of profiles and contacting the women that you find attractive and who fit your criteria. Then when some of them respond you will have to figure out the way to keep their interest by a good conversation. You will find the process very time consumming and that the ability to communicate with them in Russian is very important since not many of them speak good English and many will find communication in English tiresome after a hard day of work. Some men think that "if she is interested in me and wants to marry me she should put an effort into it". The thing is that at the point of initial contact and the first few letter exchanges an FSU woman has no feelings or emotions vested in a WM who wrote to her. It is jus curiousity in the beginning. It is up to a man to get her interested and to make her believe that this could turn into something a lot more that a basic curiousity. Once she starts taking you seriously and thinks that this can actually go somewhere her attitude will change and she will start putting a lot more effort into this.


 I would also recommend learning as much as possible about their mentality, what makes them respond in a good way (which buttons to push so to speak), etc. Basically if you can figure out a way to  remove the cultural and language barriers you will have the same, normal "boy meets girl" situation as you do meeting women in your own country but the difference is that there is a lot more available "fish in the sea" in the FSU who are prettier, slimmer, better educated, and a much better, more traditional attitude toward marriage and family.

[JJames]

Eduard,
I appreciate the useful advice

Although I would like to learn Russian, generally speaking I wouldn’t have the time to learn anything more than the basics. I think it would be quite difficult if you don’t live in the country and use the language every day.
I don’t plan to move to Russia or the Ukraine, for the long term anyway. I would expect the lady to move here with me. I don’t underestimate the difficulties facing the women in doing this, leaving family and friends, difficulty learning the culture and language, few if any other Ukrainians in the area.
I know other members have questioned before how many of the women are really prepared to move abroad with the man. It is certainly something I have thought about. I know I would find it hard to leave my country and move over there.

Regarding the economic situation, has the standard of living declined to the point where the women want to leave and move abroad, or is this a bit of a myth?
I also wonder if the local men really all have a drink problem and treat the women badly, or is this just more of a stereotype?
I guess what I’m asking why do the women want to leave and what makes western men more attractive to these women?
Sorry if Ive gone off topic

[JJames]

Flyer1, thanks for the recommendation.

Patagonie, good advice, Thank you.

[Eduard]

Eduard,
I appreciate the useful advice
Regarding the economic situation, has the standard of living declined to the point where the women want to leave and move abroad, or is this a bit of a myth?
I also wonder if the local men really all have a drink problem and treat the women badly, or is this just more of a stereotype?
I guess what I’m asking why do the women want to leave and what makes western men more attractive to these women?
Sorry if Ive gone off topic

JJames, although things are getting harder for many people under the current president in general life isn't that bad there relatively speaking. People usually don't know what they miss when they never had it in the first place so "normal" for them is what they are used to. I think that it's a myth for the most part that "women want to leave and move abroad". Ukrainians who really want to move abroad (both men and women) can do it without having to marry a foreigner. Usually they just find a job there. Quite a few Ukrainians are working abroad in the Western countries as well as in Russia and Czech Republic.


And why would any one want to marry a woman who is just looking to escape economic hardship and come to to a Western country? If that's her only motivation it is very likely that she will leave a man as soon as she feels that she doesn't need him any more or if a "better deal" comes along.


Now in regard to Russian and Ukrainian men, well in a way it is a stereotype but it's all relative, right? Yes, there is a serious drinking problem with many Russian/Ukrainian men, but majority of them are married and have families, many of them are very good husbands and fathers and value their family very much. Problem is that there aren't enough of the good ones for all the women in Russia and Ukraine. According to the CIA stats there are 11 million more women than men in Russia. Granted these women are of all ages and many of them are older, but even if only 3 or 4 million of them are of marriageable age that means that these 3 or 4 million women have absolutely no chance of having a family of their own!
And if you substract another few million men who are hopeless drunks, abusive, players, etc. you have a situation where some of these women will consider a foreign man because the alternative is to either wait until a good Russian guy comes along which will never happen for some of them because of the imbalance I talked about above.


Fact is that only a percentage of women will consider a foreign man and only if they genuinely find him attractive and interesting. In my own experience working with clients only about 10% of the women respond to the initial "hello" letter. But that's plenty if you consider that you can only bring one home.


I hope this answers your questions. If you have any other questions or concerns you can also send me a private message and I will be happy to respond.

[ML]

But that's plenty if you consider that you can only bring one home.

Seems unfair to be restricted to only one.
What if we convert to Islam?  Then could we bring more than one?
Or maybe some remote locations in Utah!