Angelika December 2002 Newsletter

Agency Removal

In each city we operate in, we generally setup two offices, with separate staff and assign a managers to each. We generally find that two offices in any given city works much better than one and allows us the option of closing one, should there be any serious problem with the way things are working.

It's interesting to see just how different western perceptions of good service are from what you typically find in the former USSR. For example, a few years ago when we first opened an office in St. Petersburg, we spoke to over forty local agencies there to try and recruit suitable skilled staff. We were surprised just how bad the situation was there, which is the main reason it took us so long to setup an office there. Almost all of the agencies we spoke to had what we would term 'sharp' or fraudulent practices, something we just won't tolerate. This included such practices as adding ladies to their database who they had never met, leaving ladies they knew were no longer available on their database, not checking the ladies identity or marital status, replying to clients letters themselves, refusing to give the ladies contact details to clients etc, etc. It was really quite terrible.

It took us over six months to find, recruit and train staff to the point we were happy to open an office there. We have some forty five offices throughout the former USSR and employ over 200 staff, in total, to ensure we are able to provide the service our clients expect of us. Compare this to many of our large US counterparts, who operate out of one or two major cities and try to cover the whole former USSR. If we have a problem with a particular lady, then our staff can always go around and knock on the ladies door if necessary, because we ONLY operate in cities where we have our people on the ground to provide the support we need.

As with any large organization, from time to time, we detect problems are are unable to resolve them to our satisfaction. We've recently had a problem with one of our offices in Odessa and also with a new office we tried to open in St. Petersburg. We have therefore had to remove staff in both Odessa and St. Petersburg and consolidate our offices in both cities. We will of course be opening new offices in each city, in due course, to ensure we have sufficient on the ground support.

Whenever we have to replace staff in a particular city, there is always the risk that they will setup on their own and try to email our clients. Rarely do we have to replace staff in a particular office, as we put a lot of time and effort into selection and training. However, when we do, we do either because of incompetence or misconduct, neither of which we accept within our organization. Therefore if you are every contacted by someone other than ourselves with regard to a lady, correspondence, services etc, please forward this to us. We only ever replace staff for good reason, so be very suspect of such email.

MTV/Channel 4/Press

We often get asked for interviews by various media and TV companies wish to talk to clients who have been successful using our service. We keep all of our client details strictly confidential, so in most cases must refuse such requests, which is a shame because the publicity helps us find more male clients for the many thousands of ladies hoping to find a husband in the west. If you would be willing to be interviewed and help us find more guys for these lovely ladies, please let us know and we'll get in touch.

New Gift Orders/Christmas

There are a couple of things you should be aware of, which are somewhat different from the west. Firstly, never send an even number of flowers, as this is only ever sent for funerals in Russia. Secondly, never send yellow flowers as these are considered unlucky in Russia, and again reserved for unhappy times. Thirdly, the Russian Christmas is on January 7th, not December 25th, although, to some extent, it's becoming a tradition to celebrate both dates. Finally, remember, Christmas is a time for children, so if the lady who's special to you has children, it will make her very happy if you send something for them too.

For those of you wishing to send gifts to ladies with whom you're going through the fiancee or K1 visa process and thus are no longer shown on the site, you can do this from our gifts page (http://www.angelika.net/gifts.shtml). The same applies to anyone who wants to send gifts to ladies not listed with our service. As long as you can provide us with her phone number, and we have an office in or close to her city, we can usually make the delivery for you.

Added last month

Success Stories

We'd also love to receive some more client feedback, especially from those clients who traveled this summer. When you share you experiences, it give everyone else some idea, from an independent point of view, what the process of finding a Russian wife is actually like. We keep all our client details strictly confidential.

Alternative Payment.

We chose not to keep clients credit card information once the transaction has been completed, to ensure complete security for our clients. Since we first started in 1997, we have never had any incidents of clients credit card information being stolen, which is probably due to the strong security measures we take.

However, some people still wish to pay by other means, and that's a choice they are perfectly entitled to make. Other people do not have a credit card and therefore also have to pay in a different way. We can accept payments in US dollars cash, US dollar cheque, US dollar money orders, Bank (Wire) transfer, Western Union or via PayPal. You can find details of how to make such payments at alternative payment

In Closing

Best Wishes,
Oksana Cook.
Angelika-Russian Marriage Agency Network
http://www.angelika.net