Should I use an Agency to Find My Future Ukraine Bride?

Should I use an Agency to Find My Future Ukraine Bride?

As is often the case, the answer to this question is yes and no. Well that’s helpful you say. Let me clarify. In my opinion it is useful to use one to start with. Do some research. I would suggest that you don’t use one based in the Ukraine- of course you can’t really tell if it is indeed actually in the Ukraine or just a website front run out of some hut in Nigeria or wherever. Most countries will have a marriage agency or whatever they want to call it locally that specialize in Ukrainian brides. This agency should have a local presence and physical address that you can easily check out on the net and even give them a call. Its very easy to find out if they are really in the country. Use your imagination. Check out their given location on googlemaps, give them a call and mention you are coming to that city in the next day or so and would like to pop in.  Listen for the hesitation and the excuse.

All agencies will have references and testimonials, but you cannot assume these are real or credible. it is so easy for them to write their own or have them written for them. Some scammers will even go so far as to offer you a phone number of one of their happy clients. Of course this might just happen to be his brother who gets paid to give a convincing story every time someone calls to verify, or even just another number owned by the agency for this purpose.

Be very skeptical of everything in this business. There are so many scammers out there and if not scammers then they are there to make money despite how they tell you that they just want the satisfaction of finding you a wife and they exist just to help you. Their business maybe legitimate and they may well have matched a few clients and have successful marriages in the past, but they all have ways of dragging as much money out of you as they can, however subtle in the process.

How do they accomplish this? The women on their list may well be genuine, or may have been at the start, but have been on their books for sometime now and have become disillusioned with the quality of the men seeking them through this agency. The woman are ‘encouraged’ to engage in emails, to ask questions which require a response, to keep the conversation going. Remember you are paying for each letter to be translated. Often the translator will even add in questions, or manipulate your ladies answers to keep things going. The ladies are encouraged and incentivised to perform. Whilst most likely not actually paid as such, they have the possibility of receiving flowers and gifts and other incentives to make money for the agency. If the sucker does visit their country long after they have decided he is not suitable marriage material they will get a nice dinner, a night out at the very least and a good change of visiting some local events that they can’t afford to attend and maybe depending on the agency some cold hard cash to keep up the charade. Remember the agency is making good money while you are there…charging out their translator (who also gets a free meal and some sightseeing), a commission from the restaurant, using their driver and clipping the ticket from the taxi or limo service, making a killing on your accommodation costs…the list goes on. The longer you stay and use their ‘helpful’ services the more they make.

Remember though that some agencies also are particularly dodgy every step of the way.

For example they will suggest you send flowers to get the lady’s attention and to show you are genuine. You would assume that as they take pains to tell you that they send you a photo of your lady with the flowers you just sent, taken today outside the agency office in the Ukraine (and at wildly inflated prices…don’t believe me then check out the price in a Ukraine flower shop), that your lady has indeed received the flowers. But in reality they have an arrangement with the local florist across the road and the lady poses with the flowers you ordered for the photo and then has to give them back. She will get something for her trouble, but that $100 you just spent on some beautiful flowers goes into their pockets. Do not underestimate what some agencies can get up to to get as much money out of you. yes, even carrying on the email correspondence after the lady has decided she doesn’t want to continue…the translator who has been in the middle all the while just carries on the ‘romance’. I talked to one woman who hadn’t been interested in staying on with the agency for quite some time but was encouraged and rewarded to continue anyway.

Anyway, I digress a little. In short, use a reputable local agency to find a nice lady and start the conversation but migrate to using your own translator as soon as you find that you may want to continue with this lady. Agencies don’t like this as their revenue stream dries up and most will charge you for the contact details of your lady friend. Some may even ‘forget’ to translate this request entirely in your email or manufacture an answer that your lady has no idea of to keep things going. Do your research. You will have enough pictures and details of her full name and city by now to maybe find her on google. There are plenty of Russian speaking (yes much of Ukraine speak Russian, rather than Ukrainian, and many understand both) whom you can use to translate your emails for you for a fee well less than your agency is charging you. There is probably a suitable one nearby in your city even, who is happy to make a few dollars once a week. Just make sure their English is good but that is very evident from a quick phone call.  If they are close-by you can even use them to translate a Skype conversation for you at a prearranged time, but otherwise everything can be done via the internet.

An agency is good for organizing your first trip to the Ukraine, but of course they make good money from this and will clip the ticket every step of the way. Sometimes though is money well spent but let them know you might do it yourself and then they keep the prices keener. Once instance where a guy was given a price and he told them it was higher than he imagined it would be and he would look into doing it himself, got an offer from the agency the very next day that somehow they managed to be offered cheaper flights and could do it for $2000 less! Yes a whole $2k saved just by thinking smarter. They will also tell you that a Visa is very difficult to obtain and no doubt will even tell you of the last guy who decided to do it himself, didn’t get his Visa and lost the purchase price of his tickets or some-such rubbish. Any travel agent can arrange a visa for you.

Beware. Disregard testimonials and a flash website. Be skeptical of everything you are told.

Related:     Hot Tips   |   Body Language   |   Single Dads    |   Dating Profile    |   Courtship   |   Avoiding Turnoffs   |   Dating Trends    |   Shy People   |   Dating Rules    |   Senior Tips  |   Reality Shows    |   Do’s and Don’ts   |   Scandalous Shows    |   Top 5 Sites   |   Free Online Dating    |   Christian Dating   |   Gay