Loveme.com aka "A Foreign Affair" is a scam. They charge $10 USD per page (they consider a page only 3000 characters) for each email and letter sent. Then they charge extra for pictures, each picture is $3.50 - Wow! Opening up an email is so expensive that you are afraid to even get them.
Then they charge for phone calls at $6 a minute, that's more expensive than talking to my doctor. That's the deal with that site......its all about charging you more and more money. Stay away from this site, it's a scam
You have not told anything I would consider a scam. Where is the scam if they told you a price and you paid it? Are you not able to separate the woman from the site? Get her personal info - email, phone number. Some people don't mind paying that much for pictures or phone calls for convenience. Others use other means.
It's not a scam, it's expensive. There is a difference! If you believe that any company who charges a premium for what (they believe to be) a better service by itself makes that company scanners, then you'll consider everything from Armani to Aston Martin to be a scam.
I'm not particularly a defender of AFA, but I don't think it's helpul to go spouting accusations born only of poor word choice.
There are real scam agencies out there, in my opinion AFA isn't one of them, but they certainly aren't cheap!
I couldn't agree more with you Muzzy; there's a difference between a scam and expensive.
At least SurfCityUSA gave specifics on why he was displeased. I'm really starting to hate a post like "Olga So and So" is a scammer that throws her under the bus without any details.
Maybe there was no chemistry and you didn't see it.
Maybe you tried to jump into her pants.
Maybe you're just not attractive to her.
Maybe you misrepresented yourself to her.
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etc.
I was thinking much the same myself, by definition a scam is a deception, AFA etc. display their prices hence they might be 'crooks' but they ain't scammers!!!
Its not a scam if the letters are real,,,,,,, but what are the chances of that????
If the letters are real and the girls are real,, then it's just a rip off or a really bad deal. But since the letters are most likly bogus, and an agency is sending them out by the thousands,,,,, I'd call it a scam!!
Sure, they show you the prices up front,,,, it's a scam hidden in plain sight!!!
Lonely Ranger, agencies send out thousands of the same first time emails, that's true. I know AOB acknowledges this and charges half price. They do this to get a response from those interested. Yet, they say subsequent emails are personalized.
You missed a golden opportunity, Muzzy. You're too slow.
crooks for sure, scammers?
i'm if you pulled apart this business peace by peace theres a high chance of finding deception.
thats pretty much guaranteed, one nice apple in amongst a barrel of rotten ones, sounds to amazing to be true.
but such is not proven guilty yet.
great business idea but, like a lolly shop to a child.
they work on that same concept, to bait you, to de-fund you.
but not like a lolly shop, these places most of the time just don't leave a nice taste in your mouth.
i use AFA to write some letters a few years ago.
they deleted my email and telephone number that i wrote to some girls.
so i had to use their mail service. that and they are expensive is why i not use them.
Rb, I have at least 5 cases, where I had wrote to a girl for a year or more, and they didn't know my name, they didn't know what I did for a living, they'd asked me about siblings, or are your parents still alive??
The year before, I had wrote to a girl for almost two years,, I lost contact with her just before a trip, so I didn't see her that year. When we did meet, we were two strangers! When she would use the bathroom or whatever, the interpreter and I would have a great conversation together!! I recognized her from somewhere,,,,, so that night, I went through every 20 to 26 year old in Kherson!! Gotcha!! She had sent me a letter or two on three different websites!! I compared the writing style,,,, I had been writing to her for two years!!! It's a nice feeling knowing two years of your life was just wasted!!
Not all, but most, write and send all letters for the girls!! Don't you ever get the feeling, that your chasing your own tail????
You just wrote to the girls? Did you do more than just write?
It's hard for me to think a girl is real if I was not able to call them on the phone. I corresponded with four ladies, all by ppl, phone and email. I met three of them. They were all genuine girls. The other one didn't want to meet with me, but I was able to call her and email her.
Regards AFA, skip to the end for the summary of this post. If you're a glutton for punishment, read on...
I think there's a problem with them being such an expansive organisation. They do a LOT of different things, and they do them differently.
While they are a PPL letter writing agency, most of this seems to be an aggregate front end service, much like fiance.com, anastasia and all the others, where the actual letters all go through them to small local agencies. AFA are just a "pass it on and charge the money" service. For this, they are one of the most expensive out there, which is a problem given that they appear to have no quality control over the agencies they deal with (with no admission that they use other agencies at all).
I know this because a girl I had a relationship with, who I met through fiance.com, who had been put on fiance.com by a local agency (on who's site she also had a profile, which was also on anastasia and the rest), was also featured on AFA - with the same profile.
(I'll point out that she was, when I met her, absolutely genuine. I met her family, friends etc., and she was honest and as described in her profile[s])
Their offices in Latin America appear to be different, however. There, the photos of all girls are taken in the same surroundings - their office (which is easy to spot) or their socials (again, easy to spot). It's a lot different to the eastern European photos, which are clearly supplied by all different agencies and all different photographers.
I have corresponded with girls through AFA, but I did that by requesting their email addresses, all of which I received. I had to do the translating myself, but I didn't have to pay a penny for the correspondence.
If you look at their site, you'll see that everything is geared towards the one thing AFA are best known for - the socials. I've watched enough of their weekly video calls (where clients are free to call in live - which other agency does that?) to know that they are forever giving out the same advice you see on here - that of the need to actually go visit, and not just correspond endlessly. They themselves will tell you, and do, regularly, clearly and openly, that letter writing gets you nowhere. They say it right on their site, again and again. John Adams makes a point of saying it into the camera in every webcast. I don't mean to criticise your approach ranger, and I genuinely wish you well, but I must admit that if I wrote to a girl for 2 years before going to visit, I wouldn't expect her to know much about me. I'd expect her to have written me off as a time waster 18 months prior to a visit, and wouldn't be surprised that I was talking with the translator. That's just me, though, and I'm far from perfect or wise about these things. I just know that every girl I've ever visited has endless guys writing to her, and I wouldn't expect her to know everything about all of them.
I'd say that so many girls letting the agencies handle the letters until the guy actually travels out there is only as much to do with honesty on their part, as the fact that there's a 95% chance that whoever they're writing to WON'T visit. Would you read and reply to ten letters a day with those odds?
AFA can be expensive or cheap to use, but at least they give you both options. Personally, I think their charges for membership, letters & phonecalls are way above the industry norm, and aren't justified by the service, so I don't use them.
Having said that, their approach of 'owning' the experience between us and the girls (unlike Anastasia, who will say the individual agencies are responsible for all correspondence, not them) does put them in the firing line for any legal action that any complainant would like to make, which would be considerably easier given that their business is headquartered in Phoenix. Surely this shows a degree of accountability on their part?
It's also worth pointing out that they're graded as "A" from the Better Business Bureaux.
Summary? Like I said before, expensive, but in no way scammers. I will concede, though, that the agencies that operate under their banner may well be another story.
Before the US congress decided to dictate the way a man and a woman should communicate in Internet (before IMBRA), AFA used to provide the full address and other available information of every girl you chose (and paid for) from their website.
With the arrival of IMBRA and in the name of compliance, AFA found a new source of revenue with letter forwarding and other "special" services provided by the affiliate agencies in the country of origin.
However, if you notice, they still provide "free" (you must pay for the address) email communication to those girls who choose to communicate without the "help" of an agency.
I really do not know who decides when a girl can have or not a direct email address for purchase, but it is my guess that it is not AFA, but the scammer affiliate agencies in other countries that make these "services" their livelihood.
Because of that, if I were you, I would only pay attention to girls on the AFA site that state clearly as having a personal email. All others are just cash cows to every agency involved. And if you are ever really interested in girls without email, go there and meet her in person (if she actually exists). In the long run, it will be cheaper that way.
In summary, I do not think that AFA are trying to scam anybody. In fact, they make an extra effort to serve you and genuinely help you find a mate ... if you pay for the real services they provide, especially socials and in-person meetings (I used them in the past when I was also searching). AFA is very expensive indeed, but not scammers. Only lack of quality control.
FYI, the girls I corresponded to using AFA (always with personal emails and never using PPL, chat, or any paid service) were all very real. AFA was always very quick to take action against any profile deemed a scam, and make you whole by letting you chose a new girl at no extra charge.
I would not recommend AFA to anyone, unless you are planning to go there, or you can live with the choices that allow you to communicate directly with the girl from the first email you send.
Muzzy! It wasn't part of any plan to write to someone for two years!! I started writing to her in Jan or Feb, into Oct. I left on a hunting trip, and when I returned home,,, she was gone!! No goodbyes or any reasons,,, just gone! I didn't get to leave on my trip to the Ukraine until Jan of the next year, had all of the bad luck with most of the girls, and within a month after my trip. 5 of the 6 girls left, or were removed from the website(s)! Wondering,,, WTF happened over there, I searched every dating site, escort site, even massage site looking for these girls!! I found them,,, and on the various types of sites too! I also found this girl from Kherson who left Aweb without saying goodbye! As it turns out,,, her agency stopped working with Aweb! I continued to write to her on AOB and then went to meet her the following Jan!! I can't get away any time I want here, from home or work,,, I can only leave during the winter!! She basicly missed the bus the first year!!!
It was very easy to tell, that she did not write all of the letters to me, she knew very little about me. After 2- 2 hour meetings, she did not want to continue to see me??!! She said I was nice, and did nothing wrong,,, but I just wasn't her "soulmate"!! After I returned home,,,, her letters start again?? I wasn't very happy with her,,, mostly for making me sit on a plane for so long. But one thing I can say for those letters from her and/or the translater,,,,, whoever,, wrote the best letters!!! Not the one paragraph letters that so many girls write,, but a thorough, attentive letter, addressing every detail!! I haven't had such a nice letter since either?!! I tossed the idea around for awhile, of writing to her even though I knew it was a 100% scam,, I decided; No, a few weeks later!
It was at this time, that I found this site; fiance.com! This girl has her own email address??? So, I wrote a letter to her on this site,,,, she didn't open it! I wrote three more over the next three months,,, none have been opened??!! I went back to AOB, since I still had credits left, and I asked her; why she hadn't opened my letter?? On what site????? Do you have my Id number for that site?? Yes, I do!!! She then said something like;,,, I don't have internet anymore,,, and the translation on that site is not good,,, you should continue to write me on AOB!!! I'm not happy!! During our meeting, she told me that she had internet, and writes to a friend in Texas!! If she can send emails to Texas, she can send then to Wis too!! No,,,, the translation is not so good,, you should continue to write on AOB!! lol I send her holiday wishes and no more!!
The sweet, shy girl I met in Kherson,,,, would not be so confrontational! But the interpreter would be,, she is a real go-getter!! I feel bad for the shy girl,, her agency has pimped her out to over 46 websites,(I stopped counting) and she had been the poster girl for several, some still use her today. Not only have they taken over her identity, but they have stole any real chance of her finding someone away from her!! She no good to them married!!!!
Oh,, as for the " A " rating from the BBB,,, that means nothing to me!! How many of us,,, would go public, to conplain about these dating sites??? Would you stand in front of a camera or an audience, proclaiming that you can't even marry a Russian woman??? I don't think so!! That's the biggest reason these companies are still in business today!!
" That's the biggest reason these companies are still in business today!! "
No I don't agree Mr Ranger........it is the cheap,overweight,lonely guys that can't get a date at home and have a few bucks to throw at a young beautiful girl that just gives him a little 'hello' or some attention. The interent is a powerful tool...mix that in with feelings and emotion and the mind just goes nymph...as if 'dawn of the dead' has taken over. For most this endeavour should be classified as entertainment...nothing more, nothing less!!!
Well golly gee beemer,,,, I hope you're calling yourself; cheap, overweight, and unable to get a date at home????!!
I'm quite sure, that if all of the negative attention, we hear and read on this forum would find it's way to mainstream media,, TV, newspapers a little more often, half of these companies would be out of business in a year!!
And beemer, on another post, didn't you just bankrole a girl for over six months here in the US??? She changed her idea, of what she is looking for, while in the US???
So how would you classify the last 6 months??? Was it entertainment,,, or was it very imformative???
I take my search very seriously,,,, I don't call it entertainment!
Rb, I'm not sure if your 5/27 post was for me or not,(it just appeared),,,, but I'll comment anyway.
Before the first trip, I called half of them, and each one needed an interpreter. I was already getting tired of paying Aweb so much money for phone calls, that I left the rest slide.
For my second trip, I wanted to call the shy girl from Kherson, but at that time, AoB did not have a phone service. They couldn't send email addresses either?? It came down to,,,, well just how am I supposed to find you??? Go door to door??? She had no answer!! I finally called customer support there, and they gave me the agencies email address! What they really wanted to do,,, is plan my entire trip!! No thank you!!!
I agree 100%, call the girl, get emails, personal letters, the more the better! But you know,,, where would the phone number come from??? Through the agency!! When you call, you can't be sure who you are talking to?? It could be her translater, who knows everything about you!!
This last winter, I had to pull teeth to get the girl's phone number,,, she had every excuss! I told her; I am not coming to see you, without your phone number!!! She gave in after 7 to 10 days without a letter from me. I sent her text sms, and she found a way to translate. On the first or second date, she told me,,, through the interpreter, that her cell phone had broke, and she borrowed a friend's!!! Everything I did to check her out was for nothing. I should have called her, while she was sitting next to me, but at that point, I had already stopped caring!!
Oh,,, as for meeting them, and knowing they are all genuine???? It's easy to tell if they are not,,, but to know for sure that they are genuine,,, not in just one meeting you can't!!
When people complain to BBB about a business, they forward it to the business to resolve. The rating is primarily based on how long the business have been in business, how many complaints they have had and how well they have handled these complaints.
In the past 3 years, AFA had 15 complaints, 12 in the last year. All of these complaints were resolved to BBB's satisfaction. Eight of these complaints were resolved to the customer's satisfaction. According to BBB, AFA made a good effort to resolve the other seven.
Those of you who have an issue with this "A" BBB rating with AFA, I suggest you come up with a complaint not to the BBB's satisfaction.