Thunderdome...shut up! I was trying to be ironic.
For your information I am not like english housewives (who havent even own bank account and who havent worked for years). I dont need a breadwinner, I worked and studied to be able to pay my own bills!
erm...if you care to look at the imposter who keeps pretending to be me (the real BF), then you will see that it wasn't me who suggested giving my credit card pin to any lady. I think the best option is to meet them in their own town or in Kiev. And free ryanair flights to Latvia is good, but doesn't everyone go to the Ukraine and russia because thats where the best ladies reside? Mind you there were a lot of nice ladies in latvia too.
Why would I care about cleaning up the industry? I do what suits me. Ive never used a marriage agency and who would when there are free sites with literally hundreds of thousands of genuine women on them if you can just be bothered learning to read cyrillic and a bit of Russian.
I have a very attractive girlfriend who already has a green card (not that I can understand why anyone wnts to live in US). I must be a real moron having achieved in 2 visits what you are all here craving for. Im sure you will be much more successful though listening to Rvrwind's sage advice though I suspect he would be better named Blowingwind.
"""Don't sit on the fence Rvrwind, why don't you say what you really mean :)"""
You know me Martin, ain't never bin' much for mincin' words or pullin' punches!! Been in this buisness too long for that. LOL
Gettin' tired of swimmin' upstream & trying to get knuckleheads to understand how keeping the scammers & scam agencies in buisness, isn't helpig anyone & it certainly isn't helping the honest ladies or the honest agencies either. Not to mention the thousands of guys who get ripped off every year cause they let their little head do the thinkin' for them. $200.00 bucks may not be much to him but what about the next guy? Not that he cares about the next guy, just look out for #1!!!!
Good trait for a relationship starter when he meets a lady, "Whats in it for me?" Sheesh....
Wind you are a genius for sure. Im so punch drunk from your insightful replies that I can barely write!
For those who are serious at looking for a partner and who want some real experiences here are a few!
There are lots of scammers but there are also some pretty nice women.
I always specify that I want someone with reasonable English. If not I dont correspond as I have expaerienced meetings through an interpreter and it is almost impossible to generate chemistry through a third person. If she then asks for translation fees move on.
When I travel I go to places that are of interest for me and where I think I will feel comfortable. Maybe its selfish but that is my prerogative. I understand if she wont travel to visit but will offer her return tickets and her own accommodation. Even tickets for a friend if required.
I wont send cash usually although as noted above I did do this once with a girl I had extensive correspondance with. To me it was a cheap exercise as I have no desire to visit Lugansk. It didnt work out but I dont regret the cost even though Wind seems to think it unforgivable. She never asked for money on any other occassion and we had been writing fo 6 months. Most scammers start angling for money after 3 - 4 letters.
The first girl I corresponded with I sent both translation money to and some money for a visa to go to China where I had planned to meet her. She never showed. About 5 months later I met her in Odessa. Didnt really hit it off and I had found someone else that was showing more interest. Probably wasted $500 there.
I then discovered the local dating websites and made many promising contacts of which one is my current girlfriend.
Never once have I used a marriage agency. Ive met a cross section of ladies from goldiggers to not compatible to fantastic. Including subcriptions to dating sites an investment of about $800 (excluding travel which I get for free). I dont consider myself having either been scammed or ripped off.
I learnt and I succeeded in my goal and am happy. Im not obligated to make Wind or anyone else happy but will freely discuss my experiences of 10 and come next week 11 trips to the Ukraine with anyone (especially likeminded knuckleheads) who are interested.
""""RV
Just wondering how many girls from your agency have married a foreigner?"""
And what has that got to do with anything? I worked for two other agencies before starting my own & helped several couples become families. The agency of course takes credit for those, not me, but the couples involved would say otherwise. my agency hasn't been open long enough to have any marriages yet but we do have a couple of engagements that may soon move forward.
But your missing the point as well. We are not a marriage agency, we are not a dating agency, no agency can be. we are an introduction agency, we introduce you, thats it, the rest is up to you & her. any agency that says they can guarrantee the woman is going to marry you, well I'd be questioning that real quick. I can't even guarrantee she'll date you or write letters to you, all I can do is guarrantee I'll introduce you, then my part is more or less done, anybody who claims otherwise is full of $hit!!
"""Why would I care about cleaning up the industry?"""
Of course you don't!! Like all selfish, inconsiderate, self indulgent a-holes, why would you care. Not to help your fellow man, surely, for that is too noble a deed for one such as you. Me, Me, Me...yep, I'm impressed. No wonder there are so many guys that get burned with guys like you on their team.
Now I understand. Wind has to take the high ground being in the Marriage agency business. Lets see "Trust me I will make sure you dont get scammed (Itll cost you though)"! And all you get for that is an intro! What a wanker.
The reality is it is a selfish game. We are out to find partners which is a private and personal experience. The thing is I have no interest in your industry Wind and I am quite happy to to steer anyone away from the marriage agency business as timewasters.
If you bothered to read my first post regarding the thread it was to say it was probably a scam but for some people there are reasons to test it. Its called balanced advice giving viewpoints in which the reader can make their own decisions.
Its up to individuals as to how they chase their happiness and they are far more likely to get a balanced and reasoned perspective from me than from your obviously biased viewpoint and that can get my advice for free. But you are correct in that I am a selfish, inconsiderate, self indulgent a-hole so as the saying goes F U Jack Im all right.
holy crap, it this post for real or a joke? I can't believe someone is actually thinking of sending money after all the GOOD advice here of not sending money to someone you have not met.
"""Now I understand. Wind has to take the high ground being in the Marriage agency business. Lets see "Trust me I will make sure you dont get scammed (Itll cost you though)"! And all you get for that is an intro! What a wanker."""
Obviously you understand nothing.
The fact that I am in the buisness means nothing. Have you ever seen a post by me solciting buisness?? I think I give good & sound advice based on years of experience as a client, as an employee & now as an owner. People can take that advice or not, their choice.
I don't care wether a guy goes through my agency or agency ABC or on his own. What i do care about is that he gets good advice & avoids the sharks that will chew him up. I also care that there are many disreputable people & agencies that will do heir utmost to take your $'s without you getting anything for it. I also care that you find what you seek & in the most convenient & honest way possible.
I take the highground because I am an honest individual that doesn't believe in making excuses for other peole ineptitude. I run a tight honest ship & don't believe that those who do not run the same should be in this or any buisness. That is not for my benifit, but for yours. I am one agency in one small town & chances of me soliciting clients on this or any board are almost nill, which has been proven time & again.
I am here to give good advice for those about to navigate shark invested waters. But it urks me when someone like you comes along & gives them bad advice.
The only wanker here is you, which you have deffinitly proved in your above posts. If your going to give advice at least be so kind as to give good advice, otherwise your wasting everybodies time.
Oh Diddums Thunderdome, I thought you were banned for life from here!
Better watch it Bart! Her Brit boyfriend went to a gifted english school, where they know how to use irony, sarcasm! She's not like an English housewife, who doesn't work, she went to school! Now we are slamming English women, not only Ukrainian and Russian women. Must be a Baltic thing.
Coming from the lady who said my wife can't speak the language very well. Annika she's giving free English spelling lessons to the spelling challenged. You might consider signing up, or get it from the gifted boyfriend, then you will have 6 weeks to study between lessons.
Cyclesburg it is generally good advice however each person has circumstances that need consideration and sometimes sending money and losing it is cheaper and less frustrating that continued correspondence or travelling to someone that is not particularly genuine.
If there has been correspondance, phone calls and a good interaction it can be convenient to meet in a location that isnt her home town and it may be necessary to facilitate the meeting with cash and or tickets. Each person needs to weigh up for themselves how wise that is and the conequence of it being a scam. It is not something that is a clear cut yes or no as some people here seem to advocate.
I could post some pretty clear examples of not a chance, this one is a maybe under the right conditions.
But what 'stinks' in BF's scenario is that she has gone to a travel agent to enquire regarding a visa and 'travel agents' are such a regular scam, why did she not contact the Polish or Czech consulates?
With regards to GD's comments immediately above, never send money for air tickets, book them online yourself and if an eticket isn't available then arrange for the ticket to be collected locally by her or courier it to her, make sure that only you can refund the ticket thus at least if she doesn't travel then she doesn't make anything out of it.
Also BF says she can drive to CZ or Poland but doesn't explain the distances involved, if she can afford to pay to travel then have her spend that money on a visa and you buy her a ticket as precribed above.
According to:
http://www.mzv.cz/wwwo/mzv/default.asp?id=38138&ido=17676&idj=2&amb=1
She's going to need to show cash equivalent to USD50+ per day for her stay in Czech Republic, where's this money going to come from? I guess the travel agent neglected to mention it!
And these are Czech visa fees, if she's Russian then the visa will cost a mere USD57.00 approx, how much is she asking for?
This girl sound too complicated. There are many other beautiful and nice girls that would love you to visit them in their country without all this hassle.
My last post on this subject. Wind you are not the arbiter of whether advice is good or not. You clearly dont understand economics. There are significant cost savings that can be had determining cheaply whether a lady is serious or not rather than wasting significant dollars (and emotional energy) going to see her in her home town even if this is usually good sense. It is a matter of circumstance that can not be generalised and as Martin has put there can be other alternatives.
However my last word on the subject is that I cant see from BFs other posts on this site that he would be springing her the cash. I would like to get feedback on the journey and meeting though.
CYCLESERG whats wrong with sending em a $$$ mate hmm i dunno about that ok ive got my own girl however ive got to say last year 2005 to a few whom mailed in dire straits i must have give away ohh i dunno i dont keep count of small change but i can recall sending one bird $740 usd told her to have a good time needed some help - told her keep the change .
never met her before / never seen her again - but ive got my own girl so i treated it as i would buying a loaf of bread at the corner store --into the :feel good : ive helped some pore sole catagorie !! i didnt have to but i felt like it --it made my day.
its only money mate ---if i think a bird is 75% genuine il slip her a $$ who cares -
hell people make a big deal out of pennies .
i keep my sweetheart to the tune of $9000 a year but who cares - but hey i know guys in aussie regular send $200 / $300 to some bird in dispair ( and they have never met her either ) .
Having lived thier ive no hesiation in at once slipping em a dollar , id not do it in my own country no bugger em we have social secutity system hear no reason for anybody to be bust .
Be a day i ever won lottery i know whom i write out the first fat cheques for --and for free it would go to around 5 russian girls i know and yes it would be 5 figures each and yes the 5 i have in mind ive only ever met 2 of em - but who cares i can't take it with me to the grave can i ????????
if you want to be with class you can't be miserable in dollars mate !
hey mike. That's good you want to help russian girls so you can be popular with them when you go there but how do you know Boris isnt cashing your cheques with a big grin on his face and you think it is russian girls who are getting the cheques? Or maybe they are russian girls and they see you like the dole office, they sign on, tell you what theyve been doing for the last 2 weeks, smile at you, sign on the dotted line at the end of their letter and wait for your cash. :))
My name is Iri__....I would love it if you sent me 300usd "to buy a loaf of bread at the corner store".
I lost my wallet on the way to the store yesterday....but I guarantee I will not this time...can you help??
Mike ...How does that sound...did I get to 75% genuine or do I have to sweetten it up a bit???
I don't want to send anything to girls unless it is real, or as real as I can determine. No wonder
girls expect guys to just send them money without any thought!!!!
Well mate...I did get to actually read a post of yours, sorry about not being able to read(understand)others.
I am happy you have found your own girl..good luck