All about Hiring Helper/Maid in Singapore

I think dependent on the agency. One of my agent said I have to let the maid stay with me for max 21 days or until she finds a new employer. If i cant allow her to stay with me then I pay for her boarding until she gets new employer. In the meantime I was quite pissed cos as and when she kept asking my maid to go to her office whenever there's an interview which is unfair cos I'm paying the maid salary but she goes out with the agent for half a day, many times.. Sometimes agent even bring her to potential employer's house to interview.

But my current agent asked me to bring my maid to him the moment I asked for a transfer at no cost. The maid will stay at his place/office where any potential employers can interview her.

I transferred my previous maid cos she was very dishonest and caught red handed by me many times. Before that I had already confirmed my new maid. I did ask my agent if i can send her back cos she did so many things behind our back that could just cause trouble for future employers but agent advised not to cos of her outstanding loan that I can't recover and on top of it I still must pay for her air tic. So no choice. I can only go to MOM website and write to them a feedback on her... hopefully employers like me can do the same so we don't give such problem maids a chance to cause trouble to other families.
 


That's the drawback abut hiring a new maid. The loan that you'll need to cover. Mine is a transfer maid so if I catch her stealing, I won't put up with her staying here anymore.

But these 2 weeks, she has been good. I gave her an extra off day tomorrow since she has been good but she doesn't want it. Hopefully, her good performance will remain til 2 yrs is up, which is next year Oct.
 
Now my maid has improved and I am thinking of keeping her. Only thing is I suspect she steals from our laundry. 'Coz for the last 5 mths, she has never returned coins from pockets to us even though my husband is blur and would likely to have such coins lying around.

I tested her by putting a 20 cents into 1 of the pants pocket and today, she did the laundry and no coins came back. I am giving her the benefit of the doubt and putting another 50 cents into anther pants.

How do you ladies handle this kinda situation?
 
Mistycloud : if it was me I would just ask her.... After you putting this 50 cents, if she does not pass it to you by tomorrow just ask.

As for my helper she puts it all in a bowl.
 
Mistycloud: Maybe it's still in the pants pocket? my ex maid also stole my coins which i put in a bowl... i sent her to agent's office without her knowledge and packed her stuff myself. saw a lot of $1 and 50c coins hidden.. she doesn't even have off days or go out often, how would she get so many coins and only the $1 and 50c ones. I do not care is 20c or 50c.. so long she has the intention to steal, i will send her off.
 
@ kayliz, I told her that we have marked the 20 cents coin and she claimed she didn't see it. I've even checked the laundry that was put out to dry also. Then at night, she came back with that coin and said found it in the pocket (which I've checked earlier on). I'm very sure now she steals. I have never gotten back a single coin from my hubby's pocket. Moreover, the 50 cents coin that I put into another pants pocket is not returned too. And worse still, I went to dig the laundry basket for the 50 cents coin and found another 20 cents coin that fell out from hubby's another pants pocket. There surely must have coins left behind these 5 months but we have zilch returned from her.

After we told her about this, she denied all the way and even went to the loo to cry. :rolleyes:

Then the next day, I guess she was stressed out and forgotten to turn off the gas stove again (she has done that once before).

I really cant wait to get rid of her. But I cannot find a good replacement maid so far from the agency... :(
 
Mistycloud, that must be a very bad experience for u... try to make arrangements and see whether u r able to cope without a maid for the time being ba.

Having a problematic maid at home is like a walking time bomb that u do not know when it will explode and give u even more problems.

I've had my fair share of bad experience with maids. Within less than 2 years, i changed a total of 4 maids and now with my 5th.

The first two maids wanted to leave cos they were homesick. The 3rd one has a gd character but she is extremely blur and constantly forgot baby's feeding time, misplaces stuff, causing a lot of inconvenience for me but we both mutually agreed on the transfer as she felt she is not suitable for my household.

The 4th, the worse i got. Big liar, thief, lazy, untidy, constantly spoils my stuff, always drops my laundry downstairs, leaves house without permission for 5-10 min but says she went to throw rubbish downstairs. (i don't have so much bulky junk to throw lor)
She also secretly took my canned drinks and scared i find out, so she threw the empty cans in a box in my storeroom. (only found 3 weeks after she left).

At the agency i exposed her for stealing my stuff, she even claimed that my 5 year old child was the one who took them.

I scolded her right in front of everyone including those maids sitting in the office. I told her to pray hard none of her new employers call me. I will make sure she will lose her job and cannot find any employers in Singapore.

I wrote in to MOM, but by then she was already employed. I hope the new employer will be able to contact me.

Just felt very bad that due to her outstanding 2k loan, i can't repatriate her and have to let other employers take the risk.

Just to share, all my maids were from Indo (fresh to experienced). Finally i decided to try employing a fresh Filippino maid.

So far, i'm keeping my fingers crossed but from cleaning standard to attitude wise, my current maid can do better than all my previous. I did not intentionally test her but once she was cleaning and found a $2 note under the sofa which she placed on the table and told me. Coins she nv touch them even if lying around. She will still clean but place the coins back on the original place.
 
Same case with my 2nd maid. I return her after 3months. I told her that I'm returning her at the morning of the day. I've check the bag n told her the reason I'm returning her n advice her not to do that again. She said she regret it. But few days later I found out my daughter mrt case was gone. I got that as a present from my hubby (it has value). People difficult to change
 
Ya.. my ex maid stole my diary (which i wrote in my schooling days). Hid under her mattress cover for her own personal reading pleasure. She also read all the letters i wrote to my hubby during the days we were dating and he was in NS. These are such personal stuff, which i kept in an unlocked but secluded drawer. How can she steal to read them? Totally no respect for us.. and still claimed my 5 yo was the one when she has nv even touched the drawer before since she was born. Even if it were my child, then why hide in her mattress cover? What crap.
 
Looking at all the horror stories, I had my fair share of bad experience as well. I had 3 maids in 4 years and my current maid is my 3rd one who has been with me for 1.5 years. She's ok, but the only gripe I have is she's more vocal and can sometimes speak without showing respect to employers. She talks loud by nature and can be heard reprimanding and scolding my 4 yr old son (even when we are around) when he is naughty etc. My son did complain to me that my maid keep scolding him and I told my maid but the reason she gives is that he wants him to learn. I'm not sure how many employers can accept this?

I provided my maids with basic toiletries like shampoo, shower cream and toothpaste but not sanitary pads.
 
Hi mylittletrumpet. My maid has been with us for 2 yrs 4 mths. We renewed her contract in Feb this yr. My experience now tells me dat after 2 yrs we should change maid. Cos now she's starting to act up. Slackening in her work. More on the phone. Has a boyfriend though married. Same story as with all maids. Having problems with husband back home. Husband has woman blah blah blah. I told her dat if her husband has woman she still needn't do the same! From my experience yr msid should not keep scolding yr child. She has no right even though she takes care of him. And if she's educating him, there are proper and rights ways to educate a child. And the words used are also important.
 
I do not provide my maid her toiletries and pads. She has a $550 salary. Has off day EVERY Sunday. Got a Coach sling bag for her birthday this year. Works in 4 room hdb flat. Main duties caring for my 3 yr old n the standard housework. We do not have pads. Sleeps in the room on a proper bed in the girls' room. Has access to our internet wifi.Do u not agree that she has a good life? She doesn't appreciate it at all! After 2 yrs 4 mths her colours are showing. Today she showed her true colours. Read on and u will see why i suggest changing after 2 yrs.
 
Today my 3 yr old has a runny nose n running a temperature. I discovered the fever when i came back. She didn't know the child was ill though she was with my girl whole day!!! So i asked her if my girl still has Vicks. She mumbled a reply and i said: i can't hear you. U always mumble. Then she raised her voice n said very rudely: ya ya! I told u wat! And so i replied: pls mind yr tone. I asked u nicely. I m not yr small sister for u to raise voice at me. Are u not happy abt something? She said: ya. I not happy. I have leg pain and u don't care n cannot be bothered! I told her: Wat! The last time u had leg pain was a MONTH ago and i asked u go reflexology! And how do i know if it still hurts NOW IF U DON'T TELL ME!!! She said: ya. Leg's pain now and u don't care. U find new maid!
 
Oh my god. I was so upset. I treated her so good and 2 yrs later i got this? And recently my 3 yr old kept telling me dat ahe don't wanna be with the maid. I do wonder now if she's done something to my child lately. And i m a working mum. Changing maid will disrupt my work n inconvenient. Plys i gotta pay agency $1000! Where is the fairness? Treat them bad we go to jail. Treat them good we get this. From my experience today i feel we should change after 2 yrs. Sometimes u keep them longer they get swell headed n do n say wat they like. They forget their place. So even with our kids they start to do wat they like. My conscience is clear. We nvr treated her bad and we sending her back. I m not transferring her. Maybe this is also a ploy for her to go back for Hari Raya. God knows. But i believe in karma. She is at the losing end, not us. No one's indispensable.
 
If yr maid can shoot her mouth off n come on as rude she's getting too comfortable and u must tell her off. Tell her dat it's yr house n yr kids n things should be done YOUR way. And u need to monitor her n let her know dat u aware of her actions. I know it's tiring but trust me. After wat happened today i realised that i am an idiot who has been taken advantage of n dat if u leave everything abt the house to them they think u are oblivious to wat's going on in yr own home n dat will be the time they try to get away with everything. For next maid i will be firm n strict but civil. No more super niceness from me!
 
Hi ruzandnaj, some maids have not worked for really bad employers to appreciate and know the good. Nowadays they have a sense of entitlement. To me I think attitude is more important than anything but sometimes because of all the costs and inconvenience of changing maid, we procrastinate. From my experience, a bad maid will turn from bad to worst so never procrastinate when we already sense a problem. I have reprimanded my current maid once and told her not to go overboard with the discipline and she should NEVER hit my son but just need to be firm with him. Bcos I m FTWM and only my maid is with my son during the day time, I allowed her to be firm when need be. To be fair, my son learnt a lot from her, from holding a pencil, writing alphabets and spelling his own name at the age of 2.5 years, just to name a few.

But I still feel uncomfortable with her scolding my son even when we are at home. When this happens, I will usually step in and ask what's the issue and it's usually bcos my son is being naughty.

But compared to my previous 2 maids, she is considered a better one
 
The problem of her not answering civilly n clearly when spoken is an ongoing problem actually. U are right. Once i sense problem i should let her go. But i dod not. I have spoken to her many times abt it but yesterday was the final straw. So this time no niceness. Am sending her back. Not transferring. And since she broke the contract and asked me to find new maid i will deduct her pay for the air ticket. Enough is enough. If she's unhappy abt it she can take it up with MOM. My conscience is clear.
 
@ruzandnaj, i totally feel you. I just let go of a horrible maid 3 weeks back when she talked back to us in less than 3 weeks that she was with us. Gave faces and attitude when I spoke to her and said for the 2nd time that I can look for new maid if I weren't happy with her and I wasn't. I got her to pack and leave right away. I was so tired with my infant and work (from home) and housework but it was totally worth it. I feel so much happier without her and my new maid is arriving on Tues.

No one is indispensable like you said and she wanted a transfer. But too bad, after 2 weeks, she cannot find someone who is willing to take her so she had to leave SG. She was so smug about it initially and I suspect she thought it would be easy to find a new employer because we hired her in the am, a fast one after she first interviewed. She was a transfer maid who spoke excellent English. Had a sense of entitlement and even wanted to nap every pm whether she got work to do in the day or not (meaning if she followed us to my parent's place and merely washed dishes the whole day).

Good riddance for these kinda of maids and we can show them who are the ones paying their salary. If they are not happy, they can go bring the same kind of attitude elsewhere and see how long they'll last.
 
Thank you mistycloud. My 14 yr old son told me that he overheard her swearing when i asked her to do things. And she called my 3 yr old 'bodoh' which means stupid in Malay. And the faces! Like i owe her a million dollars. Plus she also gave faces when i have guests over which is like once in 2 months! Now i have problem cos Hari Raya coming and there are no maids available. I believe she thinks i will transfer. I m smarter now. No transfer. Send her home. I rather pay airfare and spare another mum/lady the agony of hiring someone like her. Good luck with yr new maid. Hope u get a much better one. We are all just working mothers trying to earn a living in expensive Singapore. Why are we the victims? Haiz....
 
MistyCloud said:
Do you all provide sanitary pads for your maids?
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my parent's maid is free to go nearby supermarket to purchase any necessities we or she may need. so she will buy her own pads. and my mum already menopause liao, so no need pad...
but if you don't allow your maid to go out, then it is understandable that you have to provide...
coz if you don't allow her to go out, how she going to buy her own necessities?
 
ruzandnaj said:
I do not provide my maid her toiletries and pads. She has a $550 salary. Has off day EVERY Sunday. Got a Coach sling bag for her birthday this year. Works in 4 room hdb flat. Main duties caring for my 3 yr old n the standard housework. We do not have pads. Sleeps in the room on a proper bed in the girls' room. Has access to our internet wifi.Do u not agree that she has a good life? She doesn't appreciate it at all! After 2 yrs 4 mths her colours are showing. Today she showed her true colours. Read on and u will see why i suggest changing after 2 yrs.
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i think you need to calm down... as long as is maid, i dun think her life is good. because if your life is good, you wouldn't choose to be maid.
the problem is alot of owners think they provide food and shelter for their maid, so they have done their duties. the maid should work her ass off to repay them. which is quite unfair to say that.

my parent's maid has her own room with her own toilet, own bed, own aircon. she has mobile phone. her salary should be arnd $550. she can choose to go out every sunday (because government set that rule) but she doesn't, we will pay her extra. if she comes my house (i live seperate from my parents), i will pay her extra money to clean my house. she also has access to our wifi and telephone. main duties just housework for my parent's landed hse. as compared to yours, i think my maid is more "good life" than yours. but is her life truly good? no...

back at home, she has to support her parents, her husband who does not work and 2 sons. all her money she need to send back home. she works here for more than 20yrs, and how long did she see her family? every 2 months in 2 yrs. is this consider good life?

generally speaking, not target anyone, if you find you can do a better job, then do it yourself. if you cant, and need a help (even though you are paying), remember they are just human and they come from village or some remote town which is completely different from singapore. they do not understand the stress we are facing everyday. respect is earn, not given and definitely can't be bought.
 
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Hi pixie ng. I have been very good to her. Dats why i m frustrated. And she retires to bed at 9.30pm every night and wakes up at 6am. And we do not micromanage by coming home n checking on her. This goes to show dat we trust her n we told her so. We treated her the way we wanna be treated at work by our bosses at work. We offered her to go home for Hari Raya AND each tear, no need to wait end contract. We told her we will pay tickets for both occasions. But she refused, saying dat if she goes home there's nothing there for her plus she needs money to buy souvenirs n gifts for family n relatives. If u talk abt respect n trust i can safely say dat we earn it n deserve it. And of cos we are aware of her background when we hired her so we don't expect her to be a professional in child care. I feel dat asking her to treat my 3 yr old good is not much of a big request. She said she loves children. By God's grace yesterday i bumped to neighbour who told me dat she heard the maid calling my 3 yr old bodoh, meaning stupid in Malay at playground several times. Now we know where my girl learned the word. When we go my mum's place she only takes care of my girl. I do housework for my mum n dishes i wash. We do not scream n shout or raise voices in the house cos dat's just not our style. We just need her to be sincere in working with us. As for her leg pain she NEVER told me anything. And i wonder: if her leg is really pain can u go off on every Sunday? I m just thankful dat these things happened. We learnt a good n valuable lesson now and i m sure there's a blessing in disguise.
 
@ruzandnaj i'm not saying you are mistreating her. but sometimes the expectation for boss and employee is different. like my boss dun care how i do it, when i do it, he dun micromanage me, but even i'm overload, he expects me to do it. for me, i only can LLST or just quit. maybe to my boss, he already treat me very good. but for me, i definitely met better boss before.

if the expectation is not align, the best is split way to avoid conflicts.... so sending her back definitely is the best solution
 
I guess sometimes it's about perception. We may treat our helpers well..... But in their sense, they may not think so?
 
tiggerpooh said:
I guess sometimes it's about perception. We may treat our helpers well..... But in their sense, they may not think so?
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yupz.. like my parent's maid should be consider very "good life".. but she still will complains and rant to me at times.. like my grandma keep nagging at her, for no reason at all.. but is quite normal for people to be unhappy at times...
 
Bring unhappy is one thing but flaring up and showing attitude is another. You don't flare up and show your boss attitude do you? It should be the same for the maids.
 
MistyCloud said:
Bring unhappy is one thing but flaring up and showing attitude is another. You don't flare up and show your boss attitude do you? It should be the same for the maids.
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that's depend.. if my boss show me attitude, i will show him attitude too.

for me i seen alot of owners treating their maid like a lower class people, even though they don't abuse their maid. kids dun greet the maid and command the maid to do their bidding. most likely learn from their parents...families have to eat first, then maid can eat and must eat in the kitchen.

i have my fair share of "evil" maid like run away with her bf and end up we have to report police. send her back and forfeit our deposit. or lazy maid who cannot keep up with her housework (if previous maid can do it, she should be able. afterall is only housework to be done). we bump into the lazy maid after her contract ends, she is now happily working with an ang mo. she said very relax and not much housework to do, and her employer seldom at home.

anyway SG is just a stepping stone for them. they are just gaining experience so that they can work in other countries like HK which has better benefits and pay. end of the day, is really depend who needs who more.....

if you think maid need a job more, then think again... they can just seemly find another employer as the demand is so high. most likely they keep screwing up, so that you can fire her and she can just find another better employer if she unhappy with her current situation
 
Hahha.. I think that'll depend on individuals then. I definitely won't show face but tell my boss about the issue if there's any. I don't tolerate showing attitude but I can be open and talk and discuss. And I'm very wary of vindictive maids. If there's a maid that's resentful and keeps being unhappy (never satisfied), I'll rather have her gone then to worry whether she can take care of my child properly.

As for eating in the kitchen, I offered both my maids to eat at the table with us before but both wanted to eat in the kitchen. I think they're happier eating on their own and not sharing a space with us also. One even use the stool as the table and sat on the low stool. :eek: I asked her to use the chair with backing but she rather not. So... different culture and habits I guess.

And I do agree a lot of them use us as stepping stone but it's frustrating that they don't do their job properly, they are paid to do their jobs, not skive as long as they can. (It can be liken to you working in a company for a year or 2 to gain experience before moving on, do you skive and laze til your time to move on? If so, this is a very bad attitude which I don't tolerate that as well.) If they aren't happy, they can pack their bags and go and see how lucky are they to land an expat job. There's only so many expat families around. I am all ok with maids wanting to leave, they need to know they are like every employee, not indispensable. Respect works both way. If you conduct yourself with respect in the way you do things, people will respect you too.

Of course there's also employers that are unreasonable and harsh. I don't mean to say that all maids are bad etc. Or that it is a "we against them" situation. It really boils down to a lot of luck as well.
 
Ladies. Having read everything n thinking. I think we are scapegoats! Do u realise now they only wanna work for ang mo? And they think grass is greener on the other side. Taiwan and HK pay more. Yes ok. But i have been told by many maids dat over there living conditions are bad. Ok. Let them go. Their choice. My only request is when they with us can they pls just behave??? Omg. I don't think dat's too much to ask for. Either this or dat we lose out.
 
And wat u ladies say is true. No matter how good a life we provide them there will still be dissatisfaction on their part. And now i have smarten up. Next time i provide minimum as required by law. As long as i don't break the law n don't abuse her i m safe. Cos come to think of it minimum or maximum comfort we end up the bad ones. So i go for minimum.
 
Agree with ruzandnaj, my suggest is give them minimum in the beginning. And find new maid after 2 year. At least you will be safe for few months coz new maid is more obedient. And I cant tolerate maid scolded my kids for any reason.
 
ruzandnaj said:
And wat u ladies say is true. No matter how good a life we provide them there will still be dissatisfaction on their part. And now i have smarten up. Next time i provide minimum as required by law. As long as i don't break the law n don't abuse her i m safe. Cos come to think of it minimum or maximum comfort we end up the bad ones. So i go for minimum.
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Agree to give minimum as a start. The more u give the harder it is to take it back in future. Trust and goodwill should be earned and not expected. My first Filipino maid was horrible as well, a fresh maid with no experience. Saw and heard from my webcam that she shouted my son to go away when he crawled towards her. He was only 6 months old then and the pain of witnessing the maid treating my young son like that is really heart breaking. The maid used my hse phone to call an unknown number 40 over times when we were at work when she was supposed to be taking care of my son. The Indian man returned call and I happened to pick up. She is married with 2 kids and has no off day as she was still paying her loan. The last straw, she drew on my $300 playmat and when I asked her when she did it, she told me its for fun!! These was a few of the horrible things she did during the 9 months. I sent her straight to the airport and she was shocked but still had the cheek to argue with me. I have learnt my lesson then, never to procrastinate when we sense a problem. Ruzandnaj, I totally understand how u feel. We all learnt from experience. endure past this period, It's better to have no maid than a horrible maid.
 
Yes currently coz my maid no off day and cant go out to buy, but intend not to for my new maid. Someone told me not gd (pantang) to provide for them (they should pay a token for the pads) but to avoid the maid accusing me of marking up the pad cost, I will ask them buy themselves. Maybe provide one when they just came (in case they no pads).
 
Totally agree with mylittletrumpet that we should give min as a start. I told my current maid that she could sleep at 10.30pm. initially i only have 1 kid, she has a relaxed lifestyle (night no need look after baby at night, cooking done by my mil) and most of time, she sleep by 10pm (work done or not, go sleep) and wake up at 7am. Spend 2 hours napping in the afternoon. When my second baby came, super busy coz baby need to be feed every 3 hours etc. She complaining to my mil that I didnt honour my words that she sleep at 10.30pm. I never calculate with her when she take nap or sleep at 10pm and now she is complaining that i never let her sleep by 10.30pm. She going back after 2 years contract, and i am hoping my new maid is ok. Getting a gd maid is like striking lottery,
 
mocha_c said:
Totally agree with mylittletrumpet that we should give min as a start. I told my current maid that she could sleep at 10.30pm. initially i only have 1 kid, she has a relaxed lifestyle (night no need look after baby at night, cooking done by my mil) and most of time, she sleep by 10pm (work done or not, go sleep) and wake up at 7am. Spend 2 hours napping in the afternoon. When my second baby came, super busy coz baby need to be feed every 3 hours etc. She complaining to my mil that I didnt honour my words that she sleep at 10.30pm. I never calculate with her when she take nap or sleep at 10pm and now she is complaining that i never let her sleep by 10.30pm. She going back after 2 years contract, and i am hoping my new maid is ok. Getting a gd maid is like striking lottery,
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My maid takes care of my sch going son. My son goes to school 4 hours a day and sleeps with me at night. Thou I don't allow her to nap, but she will rest at 9.30pm or even earlier depending. During weekends, we are practically out whole day so has time to do housework. She cooks everyday and I can say that she did her work diligently. Planning for my #2 and just can't help but worried she will "complain" of the different lifestyle. But I guess it's human nature and applies to everyone. Once used to the relax life, a little bit more work will be like hell. Quite agree that getting a good maid is like striking lottery! Lol.
 
hi everyone, I am going to share some inside information about maid agencies and maids with you.
who am I?? well I am someone who had been in this industry for nearly 20 years....
currently I have left this industry.... too much stress
what you are about to read might shock you, but it is the honest truth.
I started 20 years ago marketing Indonesia maid, slowly our company start marketing Philippines maid, and lastly Myanmar maid also. we are actually one of the pioneer doing Myanmar maids( if you who are reading this is from the maid industry u should by now knows who am I).
I started being a front line warrior (sales person) I am the one you speak to and showing you all those biodata and telling you which maid is good blar blar blar.....
I can honestly tell u, 90 percent of the time the sales person is lying to you.
let me explain to you why.
take a walk down bukit timah shopping centre, katong shopping centre or hougang green mall. they are the so call maid agency hub in Singapore. in bukit timah shopping centre itself, there are 60 over agencies, katong shopping centre 50 over, hougang green mall 30 over agencies. think of the competition they are facing, once you walk into their shop, they will try all ways to let you put down a deposit.
how they do it.
"sir, mam, you looking for a maid?"
"what nationality are you looking for?"
"you need the maid to take care of children , baby or elderly?"
" you prefer the maid to be single or married"
"you prefer the maid to have children of her own?"
"how old you like the maid to be?"
these are the few of the question they will ask you and whatever your answer is they will tell you
"" ah! I got this maid that suite all your needs, my boss ( or college) have been to the training centre and this maid is highly recommended!!
"yes she like children cause she have children of her own and she have the experience of taking care of children and baby!!"( or she is the eldest in the family and she took care of all her younger siblings)
"yes she can take care of sick elderly cause she took care of her own grandmother when she is sick"
" yes she can cook, she is the one who did the cooking at home, but she only know how to cook Myanmar food (or Philippines or Indonesia), but she already know the basic of cooking so for her to learn your cooking will only take few days...
" they are farmers, work hard and use to hard life, your family chores is a piece of cake to them lah"
I CAN TELL YOU THIS, ALL THIS IS BULL**T
They or their boss may never see the maid before,what they tell u is all base on the bio data which is provided to them by the overseas recruiter.
employers like you will tend to feel better if you think that we from Singapore will send people there to interview the maids and to choose the maids, but I tell you , its impossible. y? the maid they come in different batches and days, today maybe 2 will report to lodging, tomorrow maybe 3. once they reported, they will be send for medical check up, once they pass medical, their bio data will be process, and will be e mail to agencies to market. they need the maid to go Singapore asap as it will be a cost to feed them everyday. the biodata turn over rate is so high, unless the person is station there permanently it is impossible for the agencies to interview and choose the good quality maids. so what I am telling you is, its all on your luck, if you are lucky, you get a good maid, if not go back to the agencies and pay them more money to change a maid for you.
also I believe many of you have encounter this situation, after you have choose a biodata and paid a deposit, few days later the sales person will call you and tell you
" sir the maid you choose she fail her medical"
"sir the maid you choose her mother pass away she cant come"
"please come down and re choose another biodata"
WHY???
well it is like this, lets say if they only have 10 bio data that is available and after going through all of them you don't see the one you like, what can they do? they need you to put a deposit in order to secure your business and you wont go other agencies tolook at more bio data. they will bring out all the past bio data which is already sold to let you choose, no matter what they must let you choose a biodata, put a deposit first. than they will try to convince you to change to a bio data that is still available. different company have different names for this kind of cases, some called it hantu bio, dead bio, ghost bio, mati bio....etc. also when you ask for phone interview, how do you know the person you are speaking to is the person from in the biodata? also interviewing is no use, the recruiter over there will be beside the maid when you are conducting the interview they will pressure her to agree to everything you say.
they do all these just to secure your deposit so you cannot go anywhere else, some agency that I know of , when you ask for a refund, they will say account will take 1 month to process please wait.
how to choose a good maid or good agency?
maybe next time I will post again, its getting late now.
any question feel free to leave me a message I will try to reply asap
 
Hi Witty. Tks for the info. Really helps. I am currently in the process of looking for another maid. So yr post really helps. I have emailed some agencies abt their maids but we have yet to pick one. We are shopping for one now, not in hurry but will have to get someone by 3rd week August. So now we won't interview anyone whom we can't see face to face. And to get deposit from us, no way. We more or less know abt deposit pressure n we won't succumb to it. And if we see someone we really like we will do a face to face without agent with her. Haha. If agent really genuine they will allow. If they say no, no deal. After reading yr post i think abt all the exorbitant agent fees quoted from $988 to $1761! And u telling me i can't interview on my own?! No way!
 
And i know many agents not transparent about replacement fees UNLESS U ASK. Ladies. Pls ask. You get a shock if u need replacement! Fees range from $288 to $688! I did active research everywhere. I live 5 minutes walk from Hougang Green Mall but i NEVER go there to get maid cos i m very aware. So now i am looking for a genuine agent AND helper. She need not be too smart. We just need someone committed, responsible n sincere. And trust me. Really hard to get.
 
If anyone letting go of their Indonesian helper pls let me know. I m willing to hire direct if maid has good teference from employer. Thank you.
 
ruzandnaj said:
And i know many agents not transparent about replacement fees UNLESS U ASK. Ladies. Pls ask. You get a shock if u need replacement! Fees range from $288 to $688! I did active research everywhere. I live 5 minutes walk from Hougang Green Mall but i NEVER go there to get maid cos i m very aware. So now i am looking for a genuine agent AND helper. She need not be too smart. We just need someone committed, responsible n sincere. And trust me. Really hard to get.
Click to expand...
some tips that might help u in choosing a transfer maid.
1) always ask agency to print out maids EMPLOYMENT HISTORY . they will have to print out from MOM website, this cannot be fake. employment history consist of the years the maid has been working in Singapore and the number of employer she changed and the duration she work for that certain employer.
2) always ask the agency to let you bring the maid out nearby to have a coffee , just tell them u want to talk to the maid in private without any pressure for u n the maid.
3)be very honest with the maid about the duty she needs to do at your house
4) never ever give in to their pressure to put a deposit so that "others cannot take the maid or they will reverse the maid for u""
5) never ever sign on any documents before taking home and read all the fine print carefully, if not it will come back to bite u.

happy maid hunting .please leave me a message if u have any questions
 
Hi Witty,
I've just gotten my maid 2 months ago and so far she has been very obedient with quite alot of initiative (till she "complained" that she got nothing much to do at home in the morning when baby is sleeping) and didnt cause me any issues (Fingers crossed), but I realised that she do hide things from us. For example, she will secretly ask my elder gal to lend her the phone to sms her relatives (also working as FDW) and told my gal to keep it a secret. This happens when she was here for about a month. Of cos, my gal reveal everything to us when we came back home lah. When we asked her about it, she just told us that she just want to tell them to pass message to her family back home. We do allow her to use our phone (for listening to music only, phonecall back home is once a month, or during special occasions like her kids birthday etc). Other than that, we do not purchase any phonecard for her. Yesterday, I happened to see her phone lyinh ard and out of curiousity, took a peep and saw starhub prepaid sim registered. She told us that it was given to her on her flight to SG (by Tiger Airways). I'm not sure if she is lying cos I do not know if Tigerair do provide such good service of giving out sim card ! I gave her the benefit of the doubt and hope she is being truthful. She has made several calls and smses out these few days when we are at work. Frankly, we do not mind if she wants to use the phone when she is free from her duty at night or when baby is sleeping, but just don't like the fact that we have to find out that she is hiding things from us and then come clear only when we asked.
Any advices ?
 
Hi candy_floss. I made a BIG mistake n now learning. My helper been with us 2 yrs 4 mths. Pls read my post earlier. So now we looking for new one but this time taking it slow n steady n smarten up.
 
My BIG mistake was we allowed her to have phone rightaway from day 1. Thinking dat well, she's far away from kid n hubby n parents n she needs phone on standby in case of emergency at home. We even connected her to our house wifi!!! Now at thi stage after our fren been with us long n renewed contract etc we saw from our home camera she feeds my 3 yr old with hp! Fold clothes with hp. My girl ask her to play she still chatting on hp to fren n boyfren.
 
So my next helper: No phone at all. Except on off day. I spoke to an agent. I told him how good we treated our helper etc etc n my disappointment now. I want nothing but respected n sincerity. I deserve it cos we all respected her n we all were good to her. I don't know wat else is lacking. End of day i just tell myself too bad i was good to wrong person. Nvr mind. The agent told me dat from day 1 they come our hse we must draw line immediately n maintain a strict employer helper relationship. Nothing more. No need to be extra nice. Just provide basic as in wat is required by MOM.
 
Agent said they are by nature selfish people. They grew up in village n have an "every man for his own" attitude. No matter how good we are they not able to appreciate given their culture, background and upbringing, which is totally different from us! So they can't think like us. We think that if people are nice we reciprocate with niceness rite? Well for them they think we OUGHT to be nice to them. I gave it a lot of thought n realised wat he said is true!
 
candy_floss said:
Hi Witty,
I've just gotten my maid 2 months ago and so far she has been very obedient with quite alot of initiative (till she "complained" that she got nothing much to do at home in the morning when baby is sleeping) and didnt cause me any issues (Fingers crossed), but I realised that she do hide things from us. For example, she will secretly ask my elder gal to lend her the phone to sms her relatives (also working as FDW) and told my gal to keep it a secret. This happens when she was here for about a month. Of cos, my gal reveal everything to us when we came back home lah. When we asked her about it, she just told us that she just want to tell them to pass message to her family back home. We do allow her to use our phone (for listening to music only, phonecall back home is once a month, or during special occasions like her kids birthday etc). Other than that, we do not purchase any phonecard for her. Yesterday, I happened to see her phone lyinh ard and out of curiousity, took a peep and saw starhub prepaid sim registered. She told us that it was given to her on her flight to SG (by Tiger Airways). I'm not sure if she is lying cos I do not know if Tigerair do provide such good service of giving out sim card ! I gave her the benefit of the doubt and hope she is being truthful. She has made several calls and smses out these few days when we are at work. Frankly, we do not mind if she wants to use the phone when she is free from her duty at night or when baby is sleeping, but just don't like the fact that we have to find out that she is hiding things from us and then come clear only when we asked.
Any advices ?
Click to expand...
hi candy, I totally understand your situation
first of all tiger don't give out sim cards, she is lying to you. I know that some recuiter will give out sim cards to the maids before they come to Singapore.
candy, let me put it this way, hiring a maid is actually bringing in a complete stranger into your house to live with your family. I totally understand your concern that she had a hand phone and is contacting her friends and relatives. what I believe in is that the maid has to earn your trust, your don't have to give her everything at once, she will have to earn it by performance. as I have said hiring a maid is like inviting a total stranger to live in your house with your family, how can you give her your complete trust immediately. I give u an example, in Myanmar any one can go about to make a passport and come to Singapore , even if she had before committed a crime in Myanmar, there is no screening.
I have encounter many many times incidents that when mad arrived she pass her medical, but when her 6 monthly is due, she fail her 6 monthly medical. reason of failing? STD, HIV, PREGNANT.
how did she contacted these?
1) her weekly or monthly off days
2) when employer send her to shops to do some errands
3)when employer is not at home she uses her handphone , contacted her "lover" and invited him over
4)when employer is sleeping at night, she uses her handphone , contacted her "lover" and invited him over

think of this, if the maid contacted STD OR HIV, and she is not due for her medical yet, she will be living in the same house sharing things with your family. ok its true that you wont be infected easily, but what happen if one day she use your children tooth brush by mistake? and she have an ulcer or bleeding gum.
what can u do?
I know of some employer, who know that it will be hard to stop the maid from having hand phone, so what they do is they pretend to buy a new smart phone for the maid, but little does the maid know the smart phone is synchronized to the employer phone. what ever call, message send out, employer will received too. also employer will always know the location on the maid. this can be done at sim lim tower

FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR FAMILY, NEVER EVER GIVE THEM THE BENEFIT OF DOUBT.
LET THEM EARN YOUR TRUST THROUGH TIME AND MONITORING
CCTV IS A MUST
 
Hi witty, your information about synchronized to employer phone really helpful, never tought abt that before. Thats my problem at the moment. Before i hire my maid she was agree no hp except off day. So she used my hp for urgent sms or skype once a week to call her family. Until the 2nd month she ask to buy her own hp because feel bad if use my hp often she said, then i suggest her to buy prepaid card and she can use our phone line. But she rejected if that way because cant check fb and whatsapp and sms other maid . So confused what is her reason actually. What is the exact rule from MOM about having hp for maid ?
 
novitahandoko said:
Hi witty, your information about synchronized to employer phone really helpful, never tought abt that before. Thats my problem at the moment. Before i hire my maid she was agree no hp except off day. So she used my hp for urgent sms or skype once a week to call her family. Until the 2nd month she ask to buy her own hp because feel bad if use my hp often she said, then i suggest her to buy prepaid card and she can use our phone line. But she rejected if that way because cant check fb and whatsapp and sms other maid . So confused what is her reason actually. What is the exact rule from MOM about having hp for maid ?
Click to expand...
HI ,
MOM have no guideline regarding maid having hp, meaning yes they are allow to have hp, tablet or even laptop. at this present society its very hard to stop the maid from having a hp. I have seen maid who have hp for 2 years and employer still does not know about it. just synchronize the hp, u will learn a lot about her
 


Yes witty. I made the mistake of giving everything at once n giving benefit of the doubt. I have learned my lesson the hard way. She paid me back by cursing me when i asked her to do work. And calling my 3 yr old bodoh, which means stupid in malay. And to top it off she yelled at me n said her leg pain n asked me find new maid. Enough.
 
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