Am I being overcharged and lied to?

[Majestic]

For skype a dsl or better is suggested. My office has DSL and it works great. But I have used dial up before and it still works. Just a little bit choppy.

As a network owner I would want to know if one of my agents were overcharging. But at the same time if their site said $90hr then its $90hr. I know some of my agents if you go dirrectly charge 2-3 times higher then though the network.

Kevin

Kevin,

Thank you for your input to this thread.

I sent you a PM with some more details about the situation, I would greatly appreciate your further advice since you are in the business.
Please let me know if you did not receive it.

[DizzyD]

...Also as was mentioned above, many can read & write in English, some very well,  have one such lady I am teaching at present. Her problem being she cannot speak or understand it well. This is due to a lack of practise using & listening to the spoken word, but give her a book & she can read & understand it as well as you or me....

welcome Majestic.... I can vouche for what Rvrwind says above... some FSU ladies can read and write very well, but make the jump to conversation and all bets are off... this is true of my friend in Kazakhstan, she can read english very well and can write pretty well to... but when it comes to conversation.. well.. things deteriorate rapidly.. she has told me that she feels embarrassed by her inability to speak english

so we usually limit our correspondence to emails and MSN, where online or software translators can be employed... of course every now and again it's nice to hear each others voice, but don't worry too much about about how good the conversation is,,, even if you can only speak a few words in Russian, if she is truly interested she will appreciate the fact that you try, and enjoy hearing the sound of your voice, and no doubt you will feel the same way...

a few things i would suggest are try to speak "relatively" slowly, pronounce your words clearly, and do not use any slang,, and if she has some degree of english ability,, she will likely understand most of what you say... you will think you sound like a robot (very mechanical) I know i always do..

once again it's not so much the quality of the conversation,, its the sound of each others voice that is most important, and the fact that you both try..

Good luck
Dizzy

[jb]

If you have to ask: "Am I being scammed?",,, you probably are.

[Majestic]

I do not expect an answer from the agency until Monday, but I got in touch with a friend of mine who got me started in this process (he married a girl from Russia a little over 5 years ago) and he made a brilliant observation and gave me a possible explanation.

I feel a little stupid/guilty that I did not consider this myself, but perhaps I was too close to the issue and needed an objective perspective.

He suggested that although the agency manager’s wording in the email made it seem that all the letters are translated in the agency, it could actually be that MY LADY'S letters to me are translated but not MY letters to her.

This would explain the “Lady knows English” comment in place of a English to Russian translated letter, and it would explain why the manager would make the comment and say my girl required an interpreter.

Maybe still a little silly that she could read my letters in English but not reply in English, but I am sure I could decipher a letter in Russian a heck of a lot easier than I could write one!

What do you all think about this?


When I told my friend that the agency wanted $90 an hour for a translated phone call, I had to wait about 5 minutes for him to stop laughing.

Obviously he suggested that I do not call through the agency, but find another way or just go without calling her (and visit sooner). I am going to buy her contact information (address only, no phone available) and ask her directly for her phone number and see how that goes.

Thank you all for the replies and advice!

[Majestic]

If you have to ask: "Am I being scammed?",,, you probably are.

Yes, that seems like very good advice; and more often than not very true.
However, in this case, I do not think it is a scam. Just a misunderstanding mixed up with overpriced telephone fees. 

[Misha]

Obviously he suggested that I do not call through the agency, but find another way or just go without calling her (and visit sooner). I am going to buy her contact information (address only, no phone available) and ask her directly for her phone number and see how that goes.

Thank you all for the replies and advice!

It is odd that she does not have a phone number. Cell phones are pretty common and doesn't she have a friend or relative with a phone?!? For me, this would be a red flag.

[Rvrwind]

 :offtopic:Thanks Kevin...We can download & install Skype in Russian so I may try that & see if it works. I can't set up an account in Canada until I get back there mid October & I kinda would like to have it set up before I leave as I will need to be in close contact with the office when I am gone.

[Milton]

In 2002 most have really hard time. if they have work the earn something like 70 Euro a month.
Just ask you girl what salary she have and you will have an idea why less and less men have success when they look after a woman in the big cities from Ukraine.