This site was
created more than 4 years ago. Here is a small portion of questions
we got (and answered) during this time. If you don't find below the
answer to your particular question, feel free to contact
me.
Sincerely,
Elena
Leouchkina .(Helene
International Marriage agency)
Q.
I don't understand. What is all about?
A. This is a web site of Helene International Marriage Agency.
It was made for those who would like to create a family with a woman
from former Soviet Union (FSU).
Q. How does it work?
A. You browse through catalogues and profiles of ladies. If you find a
particular lady that you like and want to communicate with, you purchase
her contact information (it includes her postal address and e-mail,
90% of ladies have DIRECT, personal e-mails) and start corresponding
with her.
Q. I've heard about mail-order brides. There even was a talk-show on TV. Is your company a mail-order brides agency?
A. Well, you can not actually purchase a ready-made
bride from us. However, you can really find yourself a bride by mail.
So, for convenience, let's stick with this term: "mail-order
brides".
Q. Could
you tell me more about all this mail-order brides stuff?
A. Sure. There are basically two ways to get in touch with
marriage-minded ladies from former Soviet Union (well, there are actually
more ways, but we will discuss two of them, the most common). Let's
assume that you decided to find a wife in ex-USSR. You can either
purchase a tour and go there to meet ladies yourself, or you may purchase
addresses and write a lady (ladies) hoping that your relationships
will develop into something serious. As you see, there are two different
kinds of approach to this subject, I would even say two schools. There
are agencies that offer you "matchmaking tours to Russia"
- you get on the plane with a bunch of guys like you, go to St. Petersburg
or Moscow, and meet nice marriage-minded ladies in the office( or
on the party) of a Russian partner of such an agency. I would not
criticize this method of getting in touch with ladies - it certainly
works for some people. Although you should know that very many ladies
on such socials may be just prostitutes, casuals or even married women
who came there keeping a company.
Another approach
is different - you purchase addresses of marriage-minded ladies from
catalogues, and write them yourself. This second type of agencies
is called "mail-order brides" companies. What you actually
buy from them is not a bride, but rather a possibility, a chance to
find one - by mail. Just like the first method, it has it's "pros"
and "contras" - and it is up to you to decide which method
suits you. Our company represents the second approach - we sell addresses
of marriage-minded Russian ladies. Of course, if you are DIY type
of guy, you may try to find a lady yourself - on IRC, for example,
or go to Russia on ordinary, not matchmaking tour (and it would be
MUCH cheaper then)...For me those so-called romantic tours to Russia
are almost the same than sex tours to Tailand.
Q. There
are places on the Web where I can get addresses of ladies for free.
You want $15 per address. Why?
A. There are two different kinds of mail-order brides companies.
One offers free addresses, another sells them. Again, we have two
different kinds of approach. Let's take a closer look at free addresses
companies. I hope you, guys, understand, that nobody is working for
free. Even if a company owner doesn't care about money at all (show
me such a guy!), there are expenses that must be covered - taxes,
office, salaries, web site hosting, computers, mail, pens, pencils,
coffee, toilet paper, you name it. If they don't sell addresses, it
means that they have to make money in some other way. Usually they
charge ladies for placing profiles on their site (prices vary from
$20 to $60). If not, they charge ladies for each e-mail message the
lady gets from a man. If not, they sell some "lonely hearts"
videos (interviews with ladies), or cheap long distance calls, or
access to their site, or they offer you flowers and gift delivery
(with exorbitant prices), or they sell romantic tours and they may
offer addresses as a "bonus". There MUST be a way for them
to make money! Another approach is "free for ladies - gentlemen
pay". This is how our company works. We think that it is wrong
to charge ladies for our services. Our policy is straight - ladies
are served for free. Most of them have very low salaries, and we think
it is wrong to make them pay $50 for placement in catalogue, when
the average salary in Russia is $50-80 a month. We don't sell videos,
cheap long distance calls or anything like that. We have expenses
too - salaries, consumables, computers, mail expenses, advertisement.
So, we charge for addresses. We think it is fair. There is one small
nuance. Ladies, listed in "free" agencies, get MUCH more
letters from men than ladies from paid agencies. So your chances of
getting her attention is higher if you purchase her address than if
you get it for free, at least statistically. There is another small
nuance. If you purchase an address, it proves that you are serious
about it, and at least our ladies won't complain about harassment
(which happens too often in "free" agencies). If you don't
want or can not afford paying $15 per address - we don't believe you
are seriously looking for a lifetime partner.
Q. I am
based in Dallas. How willing are they to relocate?
A. If they published their info in an international marriage
catalogue, it means that they understand that they will have to relocate
and they are ready for it. It is pretty obvious, isn't it? I doubt
that you will want to stay in Russia, even with the most beautiful
lady. However, there is one important thing you should remember. Most
ladies are looking for a husband, NOT for a relocation. If they find
a right person, they will relocate, but the place is rather secondary,
not primary...
Q. Do they have any special requirements concerning man's age?
A. In general, ladies would rather prefer someone close to
their age, but they understand that there may be bigger age difference.
But, please, be reasonable in your choice! Use your common sense!
If you are 50 years old, and you choose a-25-year-old lady - your
chances are rather small, despite the fact that there is nothing in
her profile about an age of her preferred partner. 10-15 years difference
is usually OK, but 25 or more is probably not. In most cases, if your
age difference is too big, you are offending a lady and wasting your
time and money.
Q. I am
a Born Again Christian and very religious person. Many ladies state
that they are "Christian" in their profiles. How serious
they are in their faith?
A. Well, guys, let's put this strait. In Russia, if someone
calls himself "Christian", it doesn't mean he (or she) is
a believer! It usually means that he is a "Christian" traditionally,
because whole country is mostly "Christian", i.e. not Moslem
or something. Maybe that person has been baptized when he was a kid,
but it is possible that he has never been to the church or read Bible.
So, even if the lady writes that she is Christian - IT DOES NOT
MEAN SHE BELIEVES IN GOD!!! Only if she openly states that she
is a believer, then you can assume she is. So, if you are a believer
and religious person, do NOT assume that the lady is similar to you
just because she has "I am Christian" in her profile, you
will be disappointed!
Q. OK,
and what if a lady writes that she wants to meet Christian?
A. Exactly like in the question above, unless it is CLEARLY
stated in plain English that she is looking for a believer and religious
person, it would only mean that she wants to meet a white or hispanic
man (in Russia they don't make a difference while speaking about this
subject), not some Arab, black or Chinese man.
Q. I am
a black person. Do I have any chance?
A. Sorry, you don't. It doesn't have anything to do with racism
or something, but traditionally Russian ladies are looking
only for white or hispanic men. If you look long enough (or publish
your own ad in Russian newspapers), you will find someone, no doubt
about it, but if you buy addresses in an agency and write ladies,
in most cases you are simply wasting your time and money.
Q. I hate
snail mail. Has any of your ladies got an e-mail address?
A. Yes, most ladies have, but you must remember that very few
of them have their own computers at home. Usually ladies have a possibility
to send and receive letters via friends, relatives, public e-mail
access services, at their work etc. You can see if a particular lady
has an e-mail address - if she does, it is stated in her profile.
Q. Some of ladies' profiles has info that Public e-mail is available. What does it mean?
A. It means that ladies have possibility to send and receive
e-mails using public e-mail access service. It is, in fact, a kind
of "electronic poste-restante". When a letter arrives to
such service (usually they are located in large post offices), the
lady has to actually go there and pick it up, or she has her e-mail
box on the computer of some local marriage agency who helps her with
translation and sending letters.
Q. Can you give me a guarantee that each particular e-mail address is valid and working?
A. No, we don't. It is simply impossible. Even if the e-mail
is working today, it may be down tomorrow (which happens too often).
We can not check e-mails every week to see if it is working or not.
Here is our standard disclaimer: we provide all e-mail addresses
(where available) "as is", as they were provided to us by
ladies. We do not have neither time nor physical possibility to regularly
check all e-mail addresses for validity. We can guarantee that the
e-mail was working during the last update (ladies write us once
every three months and each ad contains information when it was last
updated). We do not give any guarantee
of any kind that each particular address
will be working at the moment when you will be using it. We can't
be responsable for any technical problems that the lady may have with
her e-mail. However we guarantee that ladies postal addresses are
correct and it is possible to contact them by ordinary mail. In some
cases, on the contrary, ladies insist on geting letters by e-mail,
it means that they have more or less permanent access to the e-mail.
Q. I paid for e-mail and it turned out that it is e-mail of another marriage agency. I didn't expect something like that. How you are going to explain that?
A. Let's make one thing straight. First of all, you DID
NOT pay for lady's e-mail address. You paid for her POSTAL
address. If the e-mail is available, we send it to you as a "free
bonus", without any guarantee. We do not know where is this particular
e-mail address located - at the post office, at her friend's place,
in the Internet cafe or in another agency. And we do NOT care. If
a lady provides us with this e-mail, we trust that the lady knows
what she is doing. If she wants to use e-mail services of another
(local) marriage agency - fine. If you don't like using such an e-mail
- don't use it, write by snail mail.
Another thing
you should remember, using e-mail services of a local marriage agency
in some godforsaken hole in the middle of Russia may be the ONLY chance
for lady to send/receive mail. There may be simply no other way to
do it in that particular place, or it is the cheapest way for her
to get e-mails. Anything wrong about it?
What if the agency
on the other end starts suggesting you to pay for correspondence?
Well, if you are a gentleman and interested in correspondence with
the lady, you will probably do it. If not - the lady will have to
pay for correspondence from her pocket. Which is rather expensive,
I must tell you, at least for a lady. So, if you are not ready to
cover the costs of correspondence, it is very likely that most ladies
will not be interested in correspondence with you. In Russia women
don't like greedy men. Or they will think that you are not able to
afford paying and for them it means that you have financial problems.
If you can not afford paying such insignificant amount of money, how
you will be able to provide the family...It is a train of thought
of most ladies. Agree that it is not at all senseless.
Q. I sent
a letter to a lady by the ordinary mail, and she wrote me back by
e-mail. I was very surprised. When I wrote her back by e-mail with
some photos, I got no answer... What is the reason?
A. Well, it was your fault. You have sent her photos by e-mail
to a public e-mail access service, where they charge people on per
Kb basis - despite that we CLEARLY warned you not to do so.
Do you really think that she will pay 10% (or more) of her salary
for "privilege" of being able to receive your letter? We
always give advice not to send any photographs by e-mail, but we often
get complaints from ladies about idiots that send photos by e-mail
to public e-mail addresses. So, let me put it this way:
Do NOT send photos by e-mail to public e-mail addresses. Never.
First,
the lady will have to pay a huge amount of money for it (they charge
her on per Kb basis), second, she will not be able to see your photo
anyway - they don't have possibility to print it, and third, it is
a sure, 100% way to get your relationships finished forever. You will
NOT get a reply. Guaranteed.
Q. I wrote her a week ago to her public e-mail address and received no reply so far. What should I do?
A. Please remember. Public e-mail is a kind of "poste
restante". How soon the lady will get her mail only depends on
when she goes there and physically checks her box, most probably that
she doesn't do it every day. Or your message may be accidentally deleted
by staff at public service (it happened several times). Or the lady
is ill, or she has gone on vacations or for busyness. So, our suggestion
is: wait some more days, then send her another message. If a lady
has a phone number, call her, she may simply be unaware that she should
check her e-mail. If you still get no reply, write her by snail mail
- maybe she can not use the e-mail right now.
Q. The
lady has her own e-mail address. How should I send her photos? She
said it is OK.
A. The ONLY acceptable file format in Internet that
can be used is JPG. Absolutely NO TIFFs, BMPs or anything else.
Besides, please remember, the size of 1 picture file should not exceed
50-100 Kilobytes. So, convert your photos to JPG with compression.
A rather good tool for that is available at this
site.
Q. Once
correspondence is started with a lady and everything is going well,
how long should one wait before visiting her? I've heard, you should
plan on traveling in as little as 3 months if things are going well?
Any thoughts or comments on this?
A.To my
mind everything depends on the situation and on the man's possibilities
to come for a visit. 3 months is a very approximate term. If the correspondence
is very active, a man and a woman exchange letters very often, almost
every day, if they speak regularly on the phone, sometimes they decide
to meet even within several weeks. But at my experience such cases
are rare. Mostly they are men from Europe who can easily afford traveling
to Russia quite often, even every month if needed, due to the rather
short distance between their countries and, for example, Saint-Petersburg
(just 2-3 hours by plane). However I had a lot of American clients
who came to see their ladies after 3-4 months of correspondence. It
was also the case of "impetuous" relationship, "hit
to the bull's eye" like we say in Russian. Besides, to my mind
men who were fast to come for a visit possessed a very strong and
decisive character. Because there are cases when men start hesitating,
being scared to come to Russia. If a man doesn't come to see a lady
within a year of correspondence, normally the relationship ends by
nothing. Of course, the first thing to decide is not the time when
you will be able to come, but to choose a right girl. It is not a
right thing to think that way: I am planning to visit Russia in June
2003 so I will start writing ladies in March 2003. I will repeat that
terms and dates are a very relative thing. People may meet after 3-6-9
months of correspondence - there is no one definite rule for everybody.
I noticed that every year we are starting to have more clients in
September-November period. I suppose that normally those men have
plans to visit Russia in later spring - earlier summer (the best season
to come for a visit, if you don't like the cold weather). Although
if you want to experience what Russian winter means, try and come
over here in February.
Q. I am corresponding with one lovely lady for several months already, and I would like to send her some money. How can I do that?
A. Well, this is a difficult question. Some agencies say that
you should under no circumstances send money to ladies. We don't think,
it is a right thing. Most ladies have pretty bad financial situation,
you can't blame them for that, and they do need help. If a lady uses
public e-mail service, she has to pay for every letter, and it is
rather natural to reimburse her, at least for those expenses...
Yes, there are
scam artists out there. Yes, there are dishonest ladies that only
wish to rip you off your money. Like in a real life, there are "good"
and "bad" ladies. But we don't think that it is a good idea
to expect every lady you write to be dishonest. THE MAJORITY
of ladies is honest. It will be your task to find out, whether the
particular lady you are writing is honest or not. Usually it is not
that difficult. If she starts speaking about the money in her very
first letter, you should probably stay away from her. If she says
that she needs $30 a month for e-mail, tell her that you will be more
than happy to pay to her service provider directly... By the way,
speaking of honesty, it is always better to visit a lady in her country
first, not to invite her to your country. Let's start with the fact
that it is very difficult, virtually impossible for a single lady
to obtain the visa to go to the States or Canada. Besides, meeting
with a lady outside of US is one of requirements of INS if you want
to apply for K1 (fiancee) visa. You will as well be able to see your
lady in her "natural habitat", which may give you a good
idea about what kind of person she is. Besides you will see new places
and meet new interesting people... But if, when you offer the lady
to visit her at her place, she starts insisting on going to your country
first and she asks money for a trip, it may be a very clear warning
sign...
OK, let's assume
that your lady is absolutely honest, but, like always, poor like most
of Russian ladies. It is absolutely natural to help her then. Now
about how to do it. First of all, let me tell you one thing: in Russia,
it is against the law to send money in mail. Yes, sometimes money
do get through, but this method is so unreliable that we would not
recommend it to anybody. If your letter is opened, money will be
confiscated. Or stolen. Period. Your checks are worthless pieces
of paper in Russia - well, almost, in fact, you can try to cash a
check in a bank, but it takes forever and commission is high (and
you pay it upfront). International Reply Coupons are not honored in
Russia, so don't send them. International Money Orders are NOT honored
as well. So, what is left? There are 2 reliable ways to send money:
by Western Union and by bank transfer.
Q.Hello!!
I have a question.How do we know how honest your agency is, I have
heard and been given lots of informaiton on the Russian Brides as
being a "scam" just to make money!!! I know you are not
going to tell me, but many American men are now finding this to be
true, and don't know which of your 100's of agency on the web are
honest.
A.Where
is the question? What do you expect me to answer? I am not going to
try to convince how honest we are, absolutely not. If you don't have
trust, if you are so concerned about being scammed, just marry an
American woman, and that's all. Besides, there are brides from China,
Philipines, Latin America and so on. You are free to choose.
You heard bad
things about Russian brides and I heard bad things about American
men abusing their foreign wives, treating them badly and even heard
about the case of the murder. An old, ugly American husband killed
his young, beautiful Russian wife because she caught him f... with
a young man in their house. That happened in the area of Seattle.
But after that I won't stop deal with American clients suspecting
all of them to be potential killers.
It is real life,
Mister No name, nobody tells you that you will encounter only roses,
there are thorns too...But you can avoid many troubles in your Internet
dating, if you get accurate and sensible information (not just cock-and-bull
stories or old wives' tales) about possible scam and women "gold-diggers".
I highly recommend you the following resourse:
Anti-scam
Guide
- How to choose only honest sincere girls.
Q. I
see the same ladies with different agencies. What background checks
are made and do the ladies get letters from different men at the same
time?
A. For
15$ we offer addresses of real, marriage-minded ladies available for
correspondence. We have their requests to publish their profiles on
our site. You must understand that those ladies are free to post their
ads at any other site presenting Russian brides. There were about
100 agencies with Russian brides 3 years ago, and we used to have
1500-2000 visitors per day. Almost all ladies used to receive letters
and finally managed to find husbands. At present time when there are
literally thousands and thousands agencies on the net, ladies can't
expect any more to get replies applying only to one agency. You should
understand that. What kind of background checks do you expect from
any marriage agency? We are not investigators. By the way, laides
are not less concerned about running upon some sexual maniac or simply
mentally deranged person or experiencing abuse, violence and bad treatment
leaving their country and going to obscurity.
Yes, some ladies
may get letters from many men even being listed with only one agency.
But most men buy several addresses and on the initial stage write
to many ladies, and sometimes even go to Russia to meet several ladies
at once. So, I see no problem that a lady may get letters from many
men, she has a right to make a choice, hasn't she? If you are the
type of man she is looking for, she will choose you, inspite getting
letters from many other men.
Back to your question
about background checks. Here is the site that you might find useful,
if you are concerned about your Russian correspondent.
BACKGROUND
CHECKS - background
check on your Russian Date, Internet friend or Potential Mate. Be
smart and safe: Take control of your future... Know what you are getting
into before you invest your heart, money, or your life.
Q.I am
writing this letter to you because I am very seriously considering
seeking a wife in the former
Soviet Union. The most important question that I have is - Why should
I use your agency? There are MANY different agencies and EVEN MORE
beautiful women in the former Soviet Union - it's OVERWHELMING! Where
should I begin? How should I narrow it down? What agencies shall I
trust? My friends and family think I am nuts for even considering
this - they assume that most women in Russia just want to come to
America and then they will leave after they get here. What
are the statistics as far as success rates go for these marriages?
What kind of things can I do to ensure that the marriage is successful?
A.Thank
you for your letter. First of all I would recommend you to visit my
site and to read attentively FAQ section and [Introduction]
article. They might give you an insight of how the things work, and
why I think that my agency is a litle bit different from most Russian
dating sites over the net. I never say that men SHOULD use only my
service, but I am happy when after surfing for a while through other
Russian brides sites, many men decide that my agency merits their
trust. You absolutely don't have to use my agency if you don't feel
like that, if you don't find that my approach is appropriate to your
personal wishes.
Yes, as my introduction
article says there are a lot of different agencies and VERY MANY beautiful
girls, even more beautiful, more long-legged, more blond:-))) It is
up to you to decide where to begin. I used to have MANY clients who
managed to succeed after buying just ONE address at my agency. The
problem is to make a RIGHT choice, of the girl, of course, and of
the agency too.
If after reading
eveything is written here on that site, you don't feel that you want
to give it a try with my agency, I recommend you to visit Russian
Brides Cyber Guide.
Russian
brides Cyber Guide -
Myths and reality of Russian women for marriage: what they seem to
be and what they are. Advice on dating agencies, anti-scam info.
You will for sure
find much useful information if you seriously consider meeting a Russian
woman for love and marriage. You will find answers to many (even all)
of your questions (if you still have them after reading information
on my site).
Another site that
I always recommend to my clients wishing to find an efficient service
is
Elena's
Models
- dating agency introducing Russian women of models quality. This
site has a good search engine that allows you not only to select the
girls that meet your criteria, but also include your own bio data,
so you can view only the profiles of compatible ladies whose requirements
you meet. Very good utility that saves you plenty of time. Elena's
Models add 50-100 new profiles every week. They offer competitive
prices for addresses (which are verified). They also offer verifiable
references of former clients.
So I guess,
you cannot be too wrong deciding to use their service, if you do not
choose to have recourse to my agency. Read what former and actual
clients say about my site. Testimonials
Anyway, I would be happy if you make up your mind and purchase
addresses of "my" girls.
Q. Why
don't you list how many times the address of each lady was sold?
A. Because this number really means nothing - you can only
measure a particular lady's popularity, but not her availability.
The fact that a particular lady's address was sold 10 times does not
mean that she is less available than a lady who's address was sold
2 times. But, if you really need to know that, send us a message -
we will give you a honest and straightforward answer. By the way,
our statistics shows that only 30-50% of gentlemen who purchase addresses,
actually write ladies, believe it or not!
Q. Do you
somehow select your ladies or just place everyone who writes to you
on your site?
A. First of all, our requirements for quality of info ladies
provide are very high. We do not accept (with a rare exception) amateur
photos. We demand ladies profiles to be big and interesting as well.
If a particular lady sends us poor-quality photos or a short and not
interesting profile, we do not place her ad in our catalogue. We simply
send everything back (if it was sent by ordinary mail, of course).
Besides, we don't publish profiles of ladies who are younger than
18. As well, if we see that lady is not marriage-minded, or that she
is simply looking for money, we'll not publish her profile. Almost
everybody else gets to our pages. We believe that we have neither
right nor authority to choose which lady has right for happiness and
which one has not. No stuff like "each lady is carefully selected
from 126 candidates for her beauty, intelligence and knowledge of
English". We think that it's up to you to decide which
one is worth writing.
Q. Some
of your ladies don't speak English (French, German, Spanish, Italian)
at all. Why do you sell their addresses?
A. As a matter of fact, we believe that knowledge of English is
NOT the most important thing in life. If two people love each other
(forgive me a cliché), they WILL find a way to communicate. Besides,
a human being is able to learn any foreign language (not only English)
if it is necessary...
Q. Many
ladies state in their profiles that they don't speak English or speak
poor English. However, all profiles are written pretty well in good
English. How about that?
A. It is pretty simple. All ladies write their profiles in Russian.
We translate them in English. No big deal.
Q. I might
want to write a lady who doesn't speak English. Can you refer me to
a translator?
A. We have a translation service ourselves, and prices
are very reasonable. We do Russian-English, Russian-Spanish and Russian-French,
both way. Speaking about translation. Some men try to save money and
send letters translated by the software.Guys, if you want to make
a lady laugh, you may use such software. Homeric laughter is guaranteed.
If you have really serious intentions, and you want a lady to get
your letter translated in Russian, and you want her to understand
your letter, then have recourse to "live" translators.
Q. Lady
I am interested in states in her profile that I may write to her in
English. Is this a safe assumption that she will comprehend the proper
meaning or, should the first letter be translated? I can read and
speak some Russian and I know that some things don't translate well
or can be misunderstood.
A.As you
may understand, we have no means to test ladies' knowledge of English.
Even if a lady states that she has a good command of English, it means
absolutely nothing because it is her own opinion. Normally there are
only professional translators and English teachers that can speak
a really fluent English but there may be exceptions. I can't say for
sure whether this lady will be able to comprehend the proper meaning
of your letter or not because I don't know what kind of letter you
are willing to write to her. In fact it is always better to send your
first letter translated (it would not hurt, at least), especially
if you are really concerned and want the lady to understand your letter
fully and clearly. I remember that one time there was a case when
a man wrote in his first letter to the lady: "You, no doubt,
will receive many letters" and the lady translated this absolutely
differently, something like "I doubt that you will receive many
letters..." You may guess that it gave way to some misunderstanding
but then a man asked to translate his letter to a professional translator
and everything was clarified...
Anyway it is up
to you to decide if you want to send your letter translated or not.
Just a hint, never use translating software, at least for your first
letter. It may give even more misunderstanding than sending your letter
in plain English.
Q. I am
on disability and fix income, do some of these beautiful ladies not
mind this, and do they plan to work here when they come? I can get
around my self just have back problem, but the ladies I have seen
on your site are very beautiful and feel they might be looking for
a man with a house and money, I don't have either, just a steady income
but her wanting to work would help in a family, I am 54 years old,
Native American, thank you for your time.
A. It is
very difficult to answer your question. The case of each particular
lady is very individual so I am not able to speak for all of them.
However I don't think that it has sense for you to buy addresses trying
to find out if each particular lady might be interested to get acquainted
with you taking in consideration your specific case. Some ladies on
my site can be contacted for free as they have their contact e-mail
published on the bottom of their personal page. Try to write them
and ask what their opinion in this matter is. This way you will know
the answer from the "first hands".
Another good solution
would be to publish your own ad on one of the sites for Russian brides.
I can recommend you a very good site having men's listing, also they
send men's info in more than 300 local Russian agencies. Having your
own ad (where you would specify your problem) you will be sure that
you will be contacted by ladies who are interested in you regardless
your disability.
One more option
is to subscribe for a Weekly
Ladies Catalogue
at Elena's Models agency. With the Weekly Ladies Catalogue you will
receive access to 50-100 NEW profiles every week! Forms contain addresses
and phone numbers of the ladies. You will be able to contact them
straight away, and don't have to buy addresses separately. For 3 months
you will receive access to the data of 600+ women PLUS you will have
last month's issues FREE (4 issues - 200+ profiles). Altogether you
will be able to screen about 800 profiles. Compared to buying addresses,
1 address will cost you only $0,12 - with much better chances to receive
a positive response. I always recommend those services to the clients
whose search is specific - men looking for a lady with more than 15-20
years of age difference, those who want to meet a lady with concrete
physical parameters (height, hair color), or with definite profession
(there are some men looking for medical ladies, ladies with musical
or technical background etc.). So in a word although your task in
trying to find a Russian wife would be much more difficult than for
another competitor, however if you choose an appropriate service,
you would have chances to succeed.
Q.Just
want to say your site is amazing! Best I have seen! I have searched
long on the Internet through many sites and must say yours has been
the most refreshing site I have yet to visit. If time permits I would
like it very much if you could answer my questions or give some feedback.
I would certainly chose your site above all others for sure. I personally
would like to know if it is fruitless for me to "try" and
search for a Caucasian lady from Russia or other CIS countries.
A little bit about
myself: I live in Canada. I am 31 years old and part Vietnamese and
Chinese. I have higher education (CIS degree), a house, a car and
a good stable job with above average income - so I can say I am financially
independent. My questions is...Is it futile of me because of the color
of my skin to be pursuing Russian women? Whatever suggestions or remarks
I would gladly take it if you were straightforward and honest as your
site seems to portray. I would value your comments regardless.
A.Thank
you very much for your letter. We just work for the kind of appreciative
people like you. At least we do our best to make something different
(as we mentioned that in our introduction article) from most dating
sites presenting Russian women.
Answering your
question, you probably know that former URSS (including actual Russia)
was a very multinational country. Russian used to live and still live
near and with people of different races. Besides Slavic nations (Russians,
Ukrainians, Belorussians) who are Caucasian, we had nations of Caucasus
region (outwardly more close to Arabian or Latina type of appearance)
and many oriental nations from Central Asia and Asiatic part of Russia
(Far East and Siberia). Interracial marriages were and still remain
very spread, so in general Russians are rather tolerant toward races
others than theirs (especially women, I think). Of course, each case
is individual. But I can say that we used to have clients of Indian,
Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Arabian descent living in the
States and Europe that had no problems to find a woman who was not
concerned about their race, nationality or skin color. As traditionally
and historically we didn't have nations of African origin living in
Russia, Russian women may be less favorable to black men. I suppose
some of them may have prejudice towards Asian men as well. I want
to repeat, there may be differences in each particular case, but as
a rule in "your case" I would say that my prognosis is auspicious.
I want to give you an advice to pay a special attention to girls from
Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Ouzbekistan and also from Russian republic
Tatarstan (we have a lot of girls from Kazan and Nab.Chelny), these
are regions where Russians live together with other nations and people
are in general more friendly and well-disposed. I hope that my answer
was exhaustive enough, but if you still have questions, feel free
to write me again.
Q. Hi,
Elena! My name is Aaron, I live in the suburb of Seattle, Washington,
USA. I am just about ready to sign up to go on a tour to St. Petersburg
in August. The introduction company's counselor assured me that I
should not be worried so much as the Russian women are more interested
in the heart, sincerity and honesty of a man than to his wealth, age,
physical appearance and complexion. My question is, do you think he
was telling me the truth, Elena? As I read your FAQ, a black man is
out of the question, how about an Asian man? I know you are the ONLY
ONE I WILL TRUST RIGHT NOW who will give me the truth answer despite
whether I need your service or not. By the way, what is the general
population (ladies)of the CIS countries, in your own words, think
of China or its people(men), good or bad, any idea?
A.I don't
think that the counselor you are talking about is really lying but
still I think he doesn't tell all the truth. To my mind, in your particular
case, if you want to find a Russian wife, it has no sense to just
go on a romantic tour to Russia (especially to St. Petersburg where
ladies are more "spoiled" by foreign men attention) because
if theoretically you have the chances to be successful in your search
of a Russian lady, in practice you must use an appropriate method
of acquaintance and in your case I would rather give you an advice
to go to Russia for meeting concrete ladies with whom you were corresponding
previously and with whom you will be sure of their acceptance of your
race and skin color. As you may guess, going to the matchmaking tour
in the company of Caucasian men, you have more chances to become a
looser. In general, I would recommend you to focus your attention
on the Russian women from Asiatic part of Russia, many Russian ladies
living in Far East region (Vladivisotok and Khabarovsk) are quite
accustomed and mostly friendly to Chinese people. There are even Chinatowns
in many border towns and cities in the Far Eastern part of Russia
and they began to teach Chinese in school as a foreign language.
Q. OK,
let's get back to addresses. Can I purchase only 1 address?
A. Sure. We try to keep our services affordable and our price-list
simple. There is no minimum order. You can purchase 1 address if you
wish - but you won't get a quantity discount.
Q. How do I pay?
A. You can pay with your credit card. It is probably the easiest,
the fastest and the most trouble-free way of paying for goods or services
on-line. By the way, we don't deal with credit cards ourselves - all
transactions are handled by Multicards
BV (a division of De Postel BV Internet Services, Bordeauxlaan 86,
5627 GW Eindhoven Holland) via their secure site. We don't
get any details about transaction except approval or disapproval from
Multicards BV, so you don't have to worry about us stealing your credit
card number.
Q. What credit cards do you accept?
A. Currently we accept Visa, MasterCard, Eurocard, American Express, Discover, Carte Blanche, Diners Club and Novus.
Q. I would rather not send my credit card details over Internet. Can I submit an order by FAX instead?
A. By all means yes. You can choose an option of ordering by fax
if you wish. You may pay by check, bank wire, Western Union or international
money order.
Q. How long does it take to get addresses after I submit my order with a credit card?
A. Usually it takes Multicards less than 48 hours to verify your card and to give us an approval. We send addresses by e-mail when we get a confirmation of payment from Multicards. So, expect your addresses to arrive in less than 60 hours (although it usually takes less than 36 hours).
Q. My order has been declined. What is the problem?
A. Read statement above. We do NOT process credit cards ourselves,
processing is done by Multicards and we never receive a reason why
the particular order has been declined. Contact your credit card company
and ask them.
Q. I've
purchased the address of a lady, and received her P.O.Box. Where is
her home address?
A. We provide you with postal addresses of ladies which
are perfectly enough for getting in touch with them. It may be either
their home address, or their P.O.Box. If they decide later to give
you home address, they will do it. Please remember that ladies have
the same right for privacy as you and me. Besides, please remember,
that they may have a serious reason for not telling their home addresses
- they may have problems with mail delivery (neighbors may steal their
mail), or they rent apartments and just can not be sure what home
address they will have in the nearest future, while P.O.Box always
remains in place.
Q. How
long does it usually take for a snail letter to reach a lady in Russia
(if it is sent from the West)?
A. An average time is 2-3 weeks, but it depends - sometimes
it may take even 5-6 weeks... From Europe it is faster, from US -
slower.
Q. Can
I make it faster?
A. Sure. You can send your letter via DHL, FedEx, or other
express service. Or you can use our e-mail forwarding and translation
service.
Q. Tell
me more about it.
A. It works in this way: you send a message to a lady by e-mail
to us, we translate it into Russian, print it, put it into the envelope
and send it to a lady by snail mail. It normally takes 5-7
days for a letter to reach a lady if it was sent in Russia. So, this
way you cut your delivery time at least by half. Besides, the security
is much better - while there can not be 100% guarantee that letter
won't be lost or stolen, the probability of such event is much smaller
compared to letters sent from abroad.
Q. Can
I send my pictures to a lady via your forwarding service and receive
pictures from lady?
A. Sure. It will cost you additional $2 per picture.
We will print it on color inkjet printer and send to lady together
with your letter. As well, we can scan a picture sent by lady for
you, and forward it to you by e-mail (it will cost you another $2).
Please contact us for technical requirements, file formats etc.
Q. Can
I just send a letter, without translation?
A. Nope. We only forward letters if translation is needed.
Q. Do you
forward letters to/from Ukraine as well?
A. No, we don't. The reason is simple: since Ukraine became
an independent state, mail between two countries became as slow as
between Ukraine and, say, Europe. There is simply no sense in sending
letters to Ukraine through us. However, we can recommend you to use
an e-mail forwarding service of UGI
- Ukrainian Girls International, they specialize on delivering mail
all over Ukraine. Their service is fast, reliable, and inexpensive.
Q. Can
ladies send their replies through you as well?
A. Sure. But you'll have to cover the costs - our normal $3
per return letter. Plus whatever translation will cost and photographs
(if the lady sends any).
Q. Can
I send letters to ladies whose addresses I purchased from another
agency?
A. Yes, we can do that. If you pay our normal translation and
forwarding fees.
Q.I was
interested in purchasing a lady's address but first I had a question
regarding your e-mail forwarding service. I understand the prices
involved for translation fees, pictures, and forwarding of my e-mail.
What I was wondering is when do I send payment for those services?
Do you send me an e-mail with the total price which I then pay before
you are able to forward my mail or do you use another method?
A. Let
me answer your questions. Services mentioned in our Services and prices
section are separate services, it means that the main thing you have
to do in order to be able to contact a lady is to purchase her contact
information. This information will include her postal address(compulsory),
her e-mail address (if available) and her phone number (if the lady
has one or gave us a permission to include her phone number into her
contact information). All other services are additional. You can buy
a lady's address and write her DIRECTLY by snail-mail or e-mail (as
99% of women presented in our pages have access to e-mail). I should
say that some years ago 99% of women didn't have access to Internet
facilities, this is where the service of e-mail forwarding comes from.
2-3 years ago many men used to have recourse to that service. At present
time normally men use this service if a lady has a limited access
to her e-mail and it is preferable to make an initial contact by postal
system. As to the translation service, it is not a mandatory thing
either. You can write a lady in English if her profile states that
she knows some. However if the lady's profile doesn't state that she
speaks a good or fluent English, it is preferable to send your first
letter translated (of course, if you really care). Some ladies don't
know English well, but manage to correspond with the aid of friends,
relatives or even their English teachers (you might notice that many
ladies state in their profiles that they are learning English and
taking language lessons). You may send a letter in English to a lady
and ask her if she needs such a service. Some ladies agree, others
prefer to keep their privacy. Well, I hope I managed to elucidate
this question for you.
Q. How
about gifts and flowers delivery? Are you doing that?
A. Sorry, guys, we don't. As you may have noticed, the "geography"
of our ladies' locations is very wide. They live all over Russia,
Ukraine and Kazakhstan. There is simply no physical possibility for
us to do it. You should ask a company that specializes in this - you
may find some useful links in our links
section.
Q. All
right, I think I will buy a couple of addresses and try to write ladies.
Can you guarantee that I will get replies?
A. No, we can not guarantee that without fail you will get
answers. And we don't believe anybody can. If you see somewhere
that a particular agency guarantees 100% reply - it is simply a manipulation,
it only may mean that you are likely to receive some "pattern-letter",
especially if it is the case where, for example, the first letter
is free, and you should pay only if a lady is willing to get acquainted.
Normally, that kind of offer is proposed by local agencies that list
ladies from one city. All ladies usually have e-mails on the same
computer (on its owner one). I hope you may understand the rest without
further explanation...You will write to a human being, not to some
kind of robot. The fact that ladies are listed in our catalogue does
not mean that they are working for our company and obliged to answer
all the letters. Yes, we ask them to answer all the letters, if possible.
But there are many reasons why you may get no reply. She may simply
dislike you personally (hey, don't write them nasty things and send
your nude pictures!). Or she may not be interested in you because
you sent her a short boring letter. Or you are too old for her. Or
(speaking about the snail-mail) your letter may not get there. If
you want to be sure she gets your letter, send it by registered
mail! Remember, ordinary letters may get lost or stolen in Russia.
It doesn't mean that each and every letter is stolen. But what if
it will happen to your letter?
Q. I received
no reply from a lady. Does it mean she is not interested in me?
A. Not necessarily. Your letter might get lost/stolen. If you
are serious about this particular lady, we would suggest you trying
one more time. Besides, even if she was not interested in you when
she received your letter first time, second letter may change her
mind. Our experience show that persistent, serious guys always get
replies. If you wrote her by e-mail, keep in mind that some ladies
have not got constant access to the Internet.They may check their
mail only 1-2 times a week.
Q. Anyway,
what is an average reply rate? I mean if I send 10 letters, how many
replies will I get?
A. An average reply rate is 60-80%. One client purchased 11
addresses and got 7 answers. Another one purchased 6 addresses and
got 4 replies. If you purchase 1 address, it is possible that you
won't get a reply at all, it depends, whose address you've got. Let's
be realistic: if she is young and beautiful and you are old and not
so good looking ;-) - your chances are rather small (although many
agencies will try to convince you that all Russian ladies like very
much older men). If you are a farmer from Oklahoma and you are writing
to a beautiful, intelligent lady with 2 higher educations and 3 foreign
languages, she will probably not reply. If lady's profile states that
she speaks German or French and you sent her letter in English - don't
even try to ask us, where her answer is.
Q. Is there
any way to increase chances?
A. Let's put it this way. 90% of success is in your hands.
If you write interesting, sincere, informative letters, that show
the lady that you are genuinely interested in her, your chances are
higher. If your letters are short and boring like an user manual,
you may get no reply at all. A lot depends on your first letter! So,
do it right. We even have tips section on letter-writing,
read it, you may find some good advice there. Besides, please be realistic
in your choice! If you are 55 and you are writing to a 20-year-old
beauty, what reply do you expect???
Q. Many
ladies have telephones. But calls are very expensive. Any solution?
A. Frankly speaking, we have been looking for a high quality,
reliable and inexpensive service for quite a long time. Of all companies
we tried, we liked only one. Now we have joined forces with Americall
International to provide our clients with high quality, low rates
service. You can call Russia from USA for as low as $0.15 a minute
(calls to Moscow), when you call from USA, Canada, Germany, Sweden,
Finland and UK, you can use toll-free local access numbers. Calls
from Russia, to Ukraine, and other countries are equally inexpensive.
I am using their service myself, and I can say that the quality of
connection is the best of all I tried before. Besides, they even have
a 3-way online translation service - Russian/English/Russian, which
can be really handy. OK, here is what our clients say about them:
Elena, if
you have any gentlemen interested in a very good long distance and
translation service, I suggest Americall International. I am very
pleased with the services they have provided. The rates are extremely
reasonable and the personalized attention is outstanding. My interpreter's
name is Lana. I found her to be a very personable and caring lady.
She actually understands the importance of every call that you make
to your lady. She takes the time to explain any questions you may
have regarding the Russian culture, the Russian language, and Russian
women in general. I cannot say enough about Lana and the service
she provides.
You can visit
their website and see everything by yourself by clicking
here.
Q. Hey,
if it is so uncertain, is it worth trying?
A. If you have a friend who has a Russian wife, ask him. I
think his answer will be rather positive. Again, it depends on what
you expect form marrying a Russian woman. If you want to get a housemaid
or a slave, who will do whatever you tell her only because you brought
her to USA, you will be disappointed. Russian ladies have very strong
self-respect. 70 years of communism haven't made slaves of them, neither
will you. But if you are looking for a real love and warmth in relations
without all that feminist bullshit, this is definitely for you.
Q. I've
purchased addresses but decided not to go further. Can I get my money
back?
A. No. all sales are final and no money back is possible.
Q. I am
new to computers, I pressed "confirm order" button twice,
and I was billed twice for the same order. What can I do?
A. You have 2 options. We can either send you more addresses
for the amount of duplicate order, or we can cancel second (duplicate)
order and request a credit less 20% cancellation fee (but not less
than $10). There is more than enough warnings on many pages about
double billing, so if you ignore them, it is YOUR own problem.
Q. I am
new to computers and I do not know my e-mail address. Can I make an
order?
A. Hell no! If someone doesn't know his own e-mail address,
what the hell is he doing on Internet??? We do not expect our users
to be computer literates or experts or something, but there is ONE
basic thing that is required: to know your own e-mail address. Is
that too much to ask? Now look at it this way. Every week we get 1-2
orders from people who don't know their own e-mails. Orders get processed
and approved, we send them addresses of ladies just to find out in
a couple minutes that the guy has an invalid e-mail! Now we have to
spend our time and money calling all over the world trying to locate
a guy and find out his real e-mail address. And if we don't find the
guy within 36 hours, Multicards issue a credit automatically, we lose
sale AND we pay credit fees. Give me one good reason why we have to
pay our hard earned money for someone's incompetence?
Q. Hey,
I paid for address two weeks ago with my credit card but I still have
got nothing. Why?
A. Please check our Troubleshooting
page.
Q. Hey, I was trying to get addresses on your website but it didn't work. What is wrong?
A. In order for us to help you, we need to know, what exactly
you were doing and what exactly didn't work. First of all, there are
no addresses on the website. You pay for them first, and then we send
addresses to you. If you have another problem, give us more details!
We are always glad to help, but we won't be able to do that you if
you ask such generic questions.
Q. I have a question...
A. Great. Send us a message. We don't use robots or autoresponders
- your mail is answered by live persons. We will try to answer all
your questions. But before writing, make sure that there is no answer
to your question somewhere on our pages (FAQ, home page, price-list).
Comments and suggestions are always welcome too!
We
highly recommend you to take a look at our Books
and advise section. It contains a good selection of guides
and Ebooks about building a relationship (virtual and real). Wise
people say: "Never be too arroagnt to except an advice. You do
not necessarily have to follow it but at least listen". In our
case, just read. Maybe, before investing hundreds dollars in your
search of a mail order bride, you'd better first spend 15-20 bucks
and get the understanding of how the things work in Internet (and
not only Internet)dating. At any rate it will not hurt. How much would
you pay for a lifetime of bliss with your partner? Do you believe
that fairy tale marriages exist? Yes
or No
?