AGENCIES

[ttwjr32]

something for the newbies to read and digest. what exactly do you feel that an agency should do for you when you are in your search for a lady in China. we have all had our share of problems and having this for them might be helpful. giving them advice on HOW,WHAT,WERE in how to handle the beginning. its been said in different posts along the way but maybe we condense it to here for them to read. how did you handle the problems and concerns that you had.

[seagull]

I thought I'd contribute to this thread since the "Rotten Chnlove Agencies" thread was closed for some reason and this thread could have the potential to outline common signs of agency scams, or other useful info.

I know that Changsha Love Bridge Agency has one of the worse reputations for posting fake profiles and using them to suck out EMF credits out of unsuspecting punters, but what other signs are there that someone may be being scammed by an agency?

For example, I notice some people have made comments about P566, Aristocrat Garden Matchmaking in Beijing.

I wrote to a girl from there and her replies to my letters were always short, and vague. She never gave specific answers to questions when i tried to get her to open up. e.g. she was a journalist and I asked what type of stories does she like to write about if she had a choice, instead of saying what she likes (e.g. international news, local, fashion, sport, whatever, etc) typical answers would be " I like to write anything interesting".

She would give vague answers to all sorts of specific questions I would ask. The lady also seldomly asked me any questions.

I always wonder if I was writing to a translator and not the lady because of this. It could've been an agency scam, or maybe just a poor translator, or maybe the girl was lazy/disinterested. Who knows. But since P566 have a bad rep by some here, I always wondered if I was being scammed, and if anyone else had dealt with this agency, I would like to know.

[Bee964]

Ted,

I think that you know how I feel about this. When you write to a woman thruogh an agency, the agency is getting paid from you through EMF credits that you buy. I feel this makes you a paying customer in a round about way. They don't have a right to play with your feelings and money. The agency was contracted  by the lady to introduce her to elligble men. If they write an admiration letter on behalf of a lady and you respond, they should immediatly notify the lady and let her take over the correspondences. I don't have a problem with them making the introductions on the ladies behalf, the admiration letter is no cost to you, but the instant they receive a reply from you the agency should turn everything over to the lady and let her continue if she so desires. You are paying for this service.  I don't think they have a right to continue on the ladies behalf without her or your knowledge.

How much are you paying for their services? If you have written, say 74 letters, to a lady at $6.25 per letter, thats $462.50 . Thats 3159.31 Yuan. This would be if you bought them four at a time and you were writing about every second day over a 2 month period. The potential for a 2 month period is 122 credits if you exchange letters every day. (1 credit for your letter and 1 credit for her reply, 2 credits per day times 61 days) this total is $762.50, (5208.60 Yuan). But you do get a discount when you buy the credits in bulk so the price will go down. What I don't know is how much of this the individual agency gets out of the total.  This still gives an agency a lot of temptation to scam people out of their money. They are making a lot of money off of you. They should be providing you the best of service for this!

What should they be giving you for this service? I think they should be doing their best to match you up with a lady. The translators should not be allowed to write a letter on the ladys behalf if there is an EMF credit charge for it. I can see the translators fluff that is put into the letters now, well most of it anyway. They should not be allowed to do this either. Maybe they could be allowed to use a bit but told to keep it to a minimum. Of the 3 women I have just started to write to I am sure that 2 responces were from translators and not from the ladies. I asked some very important questions and they were completely ignored. I will not continue with these ones. The 3rd one I think was from the lady. Questions I asked were answered. I have written to her again.

What is the first rule of business? It used to be" the customer is always right". Now it is "We are in business to make money. Maximize the profit!" There is no service to the customer in this rule.

This opinion of mine is starting to get a little long for a condensed version of what the agencies should be doing for you. I will end it now.

Dave C

[Pineau]

Does anyone have any dealings or know the reputation of ChangChun LiRen Information Inquiry Service Ltd.
Location: Changchun, Jilin, China   Agency ID: P346 .
I know nothing about them other than my personal experience with the translator. She encourages me to always use the translator and EMF (of course) to avoid mis understandings. 

They said they will bring my lady with them and pick me up at the airport. Take me to my hotel and take her home. Provide translation services in person and later via telephone for 1,200 RMB. Sounds like a bargain to me.

Gerry

[ttwjr32]

1200 rmb for one day or the duration of your stay?? just curious

[Vince G]

What I don't know is how much of this the individual agency gets out of the total. 

The agency gets an equivalent to 1.50 - 2.00 (USD) per letter. Translator gets I think it was .50 per. We have it documented somewhere in the posts here, from a very reliable source.

[Pineau]

1200 rmb for one day or the duration of your stay?? just curious

I just checked. The 1200 was for the pickup and drop off service and the translation for the day of my arrival.

[ttwjr32]

thats a little high is it negotiable?? and also when picked up how far is it to get you to town?

[hongkhai]

Hi,

I just want to share my experiences in Chn love. I have been here for about a month and a half. I have been corresponding with a lady from Beijing. After ~12 EMF, I requested for her cell phone number and I waited for 7 days, finally I got it. By the way, I can speak very fluent chinese, so I insisted to have direct communication. During the initial few phone call, she was not at ease with me and was quite nervous (though we communicate in Chinese). After several rounds of phone call with the lady, I have won her trust, and we have a 3 hours call today and she has complained that why I have not come to visit her. She was very honest to share with me how EMF work:

1. Through out all the EMF communication, she has not written a single EMF to me. All the EMFs were from the translator (it is not totally unexpected). The translator would show her some of the EMF (but not all). So, I gone through all the EMF that "she" wrote to me.
2. She told me that the personality portrait in the EMF, is ~50% accurate.
3. In addition, she would continue to use EMF, if I could not understand Chinese.
4. She did mention that she does not agree with what the agency did. On the other hand, she does have great difficulties approaching and communicating with guy, not to mention a foreigner. Putting myself in her shoe, she pay the agency to get her a marriage, and she expect certain service from the agency. That writing EMF on behalf of her, is that kind of service (you might not agree with this).
5. She was quite happy to meet me here (I feel fortunate as well). And, I am going to meet her this Oct!
 
I think the phone call is just the start of our relationship (all the EMF is just BS). At least, she is a real person that I feel comfortable to communicate to. I do feel lucky on this. Good luck.

Hong Khai

[Chong]

Hong Khai ... perhaps you can share the agency name with us. Welcome to the Forum.

Gerry ... That's too high a fee. You can reduce it by half +. 500 RMB is more reasonable. A translator can cost only 250 RMB per day and then consider how much cab fare from the airport is 'to and from'.

[Vince G]

Hong Khai, When you say she didn't write any EMF's, do you mean she didn't know about them? Did she dictate to the translator what to write or let her write whatever she wanted? 

[Robertt S]

Well what I noticed from several visits to the agency over 3 trips to China, is that most women were called on their cell phones when they received an EMF. They would either give the translator their return letter verbally then or call back and give their reply later. The translators record their conversations with the women and then write a reply later. All the translators have recording devices that they use to ensure their replies are fairly accurate to the woman's response, they may add a little sweet language to keep the relationship interesting also. A daily trip to the agency is pretty hard for most of the women, so they may only visit the agency when they have a gift delivered there. A woman might actually visit the agency in person once or twice a month depending on her work schedule and the distance involved. So when you receive a rapid response to your EMF do not doubt your agency, the phone is a the woman's lifeline to the agency and she uses the phone a lot more often than a crowded bus to to answer your EMF's
                                                                        Best Wishes

[hongkhai]

My understanding was that she does not know what she has replied to me! That why, she asked me to read to her all the EMF letters that "she" wrote to me. She was quite surprise on some of the content but she did agree that the EMF somewhat represent her thoughts. I did request for her personal email. As expected, the agency told be that she does not have a computer. This is not true (as expected). She has a PC, email account (she is doing online business), PC is always on, always online.

She did not mention that the agency call her when her got a letter from me. What has happened was that, the agency did an interview with her when she joined the agency, so that the agency could "represent" her as accurate as possible. When I requested for her cell phone number, the agency did discuss with her on this issue. Once we started communication over the phone, the agency has never sent me any EMF (thanks).

I was quite frustrated when we started communicated over the phone and on private email. All the "honey", "hehe", "yeah" disappeared. I did feel that she was quite nervous, cautious and worried when communicating with me. All the "romance" feeling was gone. Started with trust building, get her to talk. Initially, she tried to portrait herself as what the agency portrait her in the EMF. After a few phone calls, she started to trust me and being quite honest.

I do not think that I want to count the agency out (though I disagree on what they did, and I believe that this is not the only agency that practice this tactic). But, the real work started when we started communicating directly. Good luck.

Hong Khai

[Irishman]

Here's how it works in one agency I know of of.
Most of the ladies don't speak much English if any so the translator chats with her to get an idea of what to put into her profile and then makes it, they discus what pictures to put on the profile.

When a man writes to the lady she gets emailed an original copy of the English version and a Chinese translation . If she doesn't have a computer or is out of town they call her and read out a translated version.
The lady then replies with a broad gist of what she wants to say.
The translator then writes the reply with the rough framework of what the lady said. They do not simply do a word for word translated reply.

I strongly suspect that if they feel the lady is saying something they think the man wont like, then its left out, if its not enough they probably spice it up and embellish a little. Though that probably varies from translator to translator, they work on a commission basis so clearly its in their interest to keep the man replying as often as possible.

If a lady has had no letters from men on chnlove they will help her on other sites too such as CLL

[Vince G]

I can back up most of what Irish wrote speaking with a few women over time, they have said the same. As for "if they feel the lady is saying something they think the man wont like, then its left out"? Currently I am writing two women. One said something about trying her patience? When I asked what she meant she replied with what a loving relationship is? and didn't answer the question. From her going on about this? I assume what she actually said was changed. I feel like writing her, I think I already know what a loving relationship is (esp with my track record) and why take advise from someone that was married just one year?

This one takes days to reply where the other replies right away. I think it's all the translator? The other talks of herself (work, things she does, etc). The other I think got her last letter. The translator can find another to write?