anastasiaweb

[jonm61]

I've read several posts on anastasiaweb.com and I'm so glad I did! I won't be throwing money away on them. I was just wondering, since I've seen posts here plus info on other sites that at least some of the women who are on anastasiaweb are real. If that's the case, does anyone know how to find them and the agency they're actually working with?

Thanks,

Jon

[AnzoNevis]

... in response to anastasiaweb, posted by jonm61 on Jul 28, 2005

I would say a large majority of the ladies are real. It's just that most of the
letters you would receive are sent by the ladies' original agency. I have friends
who have gone over and met ladies they met thru A-Web and they are real
enough. But I wouldn't answer any of the agency generated letters. That said,
sometimes some investigative work can help. I found one lady's info by doing
a Google search with her name or name/age/city, etc. A lot of guys do that
now. An A-Web letter also contains the name of the person who translated
the letter for the lady. Bingo, Googling HER name I found the translator was
the owner of the lady's agency in Kazan. And...the letters were written by the
owner/translator and not the lady I was interested in. Bummer. But I was able
to find an email address for the lady by getting on a Russian search engine. Ah,
what fun...Also, of course, a lot of these ladies can be found on Russian Zest
which is linked up with many of the agencies-hence the similar appearance of
many of the web sites.

[fathertime]

... in response to anastasiaweb, posted by jonm61 on Jul 28, 2005

It was a fun time for me but if you read my earlier posts you than know what to look out for. There has to be someone better and more forthcoming than Anastasia.  
Fathertime

[Frank O]

... in response to anastasiaweb, posted by jonm61 on Jul 28, 2005

YOu just have to take the time & wade through all the different sites that are out there. Its' definately NOT easy man. You should try my route. I took out an ad with Jack I got bombarded with over 60 responses from ladies. I had my hands full. On the positive side they were WRITING ME so that made it easier. Some VERY nice ladies too!! I even got married to bad I married the wrong one. Good luck.

[jonm61]

... in response to Re: anastasiaweb, posted by Frank O on Jul 28, 2005

Thanks for the reply Frank. I'm working my way through various sites and trying to figure out what's legit & what's not.

I may have missed something, but Jack?

[Frank O]

... in response to Re: Re: anastasiaweb, posted by jonm61 on Jul 28, 2005

Jack posts here regularly he runs First Dream. He is one of the ones that does NOT hesitate to recommend other forums or agencies. I used him EXCLUSIVELY during my trips to Ukraine & will continue should I go back.

[Streetwise]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: anastasiaweb, posted by Frank O on Jul 28, 2005

The days of uncertainty and hazard in travelling to the Ukraine are over, and they were over long ago. I look on visiting the Ukraine with the same sang-froid as I would any country in Europe. You can book apartments and internal and external flights online, and most cities are connected with a good modern long-distance bus network, as well as trains. I have been to Kiev, Kharkov, Chernigov, Odessa, Nikolaev, Simferopol and Yalta (and that's just Ukraine) and I have never yet used an agency for my trips. On average it costs me about 800 USD for a week. Plenty of ladies now place their personal ads directly on the free sites. I'm not sure abut the USA, but EU citizens don't even need a visa anymore. Things are changing. I simply cannot understand why anyone would consider lining the pockets of an agency when you an achieve much better results without them, with a little research and forward planning. Remember, whatever they try to tell you, agencies exists primarily to make money, not to bring everlasting joy into someone else's life. Ask yourself this question: if an agency has a choice between seeing a client disappear into the sunset happily married and off their books forever, or coming back time and time again to continue using their services, which way are they going to steer that client? This is an unpredictable mission we are embarked on, so why complicate it further by involving a third party with commercial interests? Most of them will feed you any old BS to make money out of you. You don't need it, you will get far more satisfactory results by going direct. Cut out the middle man and save yourself a lot of money and a lot of red herrings.

[John K]

... in response to Why use any agency???, posted by Streetwise on Jul 29, 2005

I guess it comes from the "comfort factor".  Some people prefer to do everything for themselves.  Others prefer to let other people do their work for them.  My first two trips to Ukraine, I had local Ukrainians set up hotels, cars & drivers, and train tickets for me.  I probably could have done it myself, or trusted my girlfriend/fiancee to do it, but I chose to use local Ukrainian professionals to do it for me instead.  When I arrived, I had people waiting on me to take me to where I needed to go, even when I came in over 10 hours late, due to weather problems.

Likewise, you can choose to do your legal paperwork yourself, or have an immigration lawyer do it for you.  I chose to spend some money and have an immigration lawyer do all our paperwork for us.  It was simply a comfort issue.  I didn't have to worry if the paperwork was filled correctly; I just signed the completed forms and the lawyer mailed it off for me.  Everything went very smooth.  My lawyer even made sure my paperwork got transferred to a new district, even after I forgot to take care of it.  Having a professional watching out for you is comfortable, but it isn't necessarily cheap.

So using an agency to set up meetings and accomodations isn't a bad idea.  If you are more comfortable having someone take care of details for you, then spend the money and hire an agency.  If you want to save money, or prefer to handle your own details, then do it yourself.  It's simply a matter of preference.

[jonm61]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: anastasiaweb, posted by Frank O on Jul 28, 2005

Excellent, thanks!