Advise on Baby & Maid Exps

CSI_Fan
yr maid eats so little, oso problem, my maid eat non stop oso problem, she wake up @6am oledi ate 2 pieces of breads, 2pkts of biscuits, 1 bowl of cereal, then 9am eats another 2 pieces of breads, 2pkts of biscuits 1 cup of nestcoffe, 10am go down hv 1 bowl of noodles, 1 cup of soft drinks, 12pm 2 bowls of noodles again. 3pm 1 pkt of 'chee cheong fan', 1 cup of coffee again, 5pm 2 pieces of breads n fruit n biscuits again, 7pm dinner cum fruits, 8pm 2 pkts of biscuits again. 9pm sleep. so u tell mi tis type of maid can keep or nt? or rather say who can stand tis type of maid, work attitude very bad, n go round n tell ppl employer no gd, dont let her eat, somemore she is 6yrs in SG,very experienced. cant imagine hw preious employer can stand her. she said 3 yrs in one household? i wondering whether her words is truth? frm wat i noticed frm her work attitude? very strange n stressed. old man in e hse side her very much. scare she gt nothing 2 eat, keep on buy things 4 her n bring her down 2 eat. she likes whole day eats n dont do work.
 


i can't sleep. coz the maid disappeared!! she didn't take anything with her. she eats little, probably coz she's shy. after a few more days, things improved. she ate more.

then one sat, let her call home, she says her DD passed away. asked to go back, promising to return after 2 weeks. but cannot mah, she was with me for 3 weeks only...how to let her go home? agent also told her cannot. i didn't know whether to believe her or not, but gave her benefit of doubt. counselled her, reminded her to be strong for her other kids. after that, she seemed like back to her normal self, happy, cheerful, smiling. on one hand, it seems strange that a mother whose DD just passed away could be cheerful. yet on the other hand, that could be her way of dealing wih her grief, afterall, she has 2 other kids to care for. we wanted to help her out, so offered to contribute some cash (she nvr asked us for money). but she was not able to give us details of where to remit the $$ to...we asked her 4 times over the next 2 weeks. agent was also unable to verify her story. the last time we asked her abt the details re her DD passing was on Sun morning. Sun afternoon, she left while we were out. she unlocked the gate, padlocked it back and tossed the keys back into the house. main door was left open. it seems like she only took her jacket and possibly, her handbag. her PP, WP and $$ are still with us.

we have reported it to the police, but still no news. police tried calling the embassy and HOME but couldn't get through. really dunno what we can do now...haiz.
 
CSI Fan,

Dont worry too much! She will most probably in Indo Embassy or go back agency later. Dont lose sleep or eat just becoz of this type of pple.

You should get your agency to call Indo Embassy (as they can speak Indo easier to communicate). For Indo, mostly they will run to Embassy or agency. Only Filippions ran to HOME.

She has no pp, wp and $$ so eventually will appear somewhere. Is she a ex sg?
 
KC, she is Phil maid. Fresh. This morning I called the embassy. She went there. Phew! Was so worried something happened to her. Her work attitude etc is actually very good...the whole family is v happy with her. My house has nvr been so clean, even with my previous maids. Embassy said they called agency, but agent said didn't receive any phone call. Funny lah. Police also didn't find anything. I called the IO to update him, he laughed when he heard I was the one who called embassy to check. Think she's just home sick...esp when her DD passed away (supposedly). Haiz, but I dread the whole new maid training bit etc if I have to select new maid again. Sigh
 
Hi CSI Fan,

Lucky, u found her! So what u going to do with her? Why she dont tell you if she is got problem rather than running away...
 
KC, yah lorh! I also dunno why she dun tell us of any problem. From her behaviour prior to her running away, totally couldn't tell she had any problems...

I can't do anything...embassy not releasing her, not even to agent. but embassy pple say to let her transfer. Also good lah. As much as I want to take her back, her emotional state of mind may not be that stable lah...little bit like that run back to embassy. plus she run once, she can run again...and I'm still paying levy! damn...
 
Hi,

i just got a filipino maid & need to find out a couple of things:

(1) Cheapest way for her to call back Philippines?
(2) Cheapest way to remit her money back to Philippines?

Can anyone advise? Thks in advance
 
Hi Heaven,

1) Calling back Philippines

You can get a Starhub IDD calling card. I pay $8.50 for a $10-value card and my maid can make 1 hour of phone call (30 min each). I allow my maid to call home every week (30 min).

2) Remittance - You can try Western Union - Reliable and available at all Post Offices.
 
Hi Snowball,

Thks for the advice... can i check further:

is it true that she needs to produce the work permit for remittance services?

Is the starhub IDD calling card to be inserted into hp or can use with house phone?

Thks again
 
Hi Heaven,

For the IDD calling card, you can use normal phone to call. There is a phone # for you to dial in to key in the pin # printed on the calling card before you call the country phone #.

I am not too sure about needing WP for remittance. But, when I let my maid go off to do her remittance back home, I give them their WP to carry with them. This is a form of identification for them (if stopped by police for checks). I keep her passport with me tho'.
 
hey heaven...

yes, WP is required for every remittance. my maid will ask me for WP if she is going to remit. even for western union, after they make a "member card", so they dont need to fill in the address in the form each time, they still need to show WP to remit. else, when she alone outside, i make her carry a colour copy of her WP for identification purposes.

i use the hi! card from Singtel as sometimes the cheaper cards connection not too good. she tried M1 and always cut off.
 
hey, can i check, is it illegal for maids to wash cars? i see many neighbours' maids doing so and i thot it's ok. but just heard from a fren that it's illegal...
 
Hi Kitty,

Our Agency stated washing car in the list of duties in the Contract with the Maid.

My previous and present maid all from Philippines wash our car and they are not complaining.

So long as the maid is in agreement to doing so, its not illegal.
 
mummies, can i ask, do your maids sleep with ur kids in the same room? Any issue to take note of if want the maid to sleep with the kids, esp if the kids are young (3 yo)
 
Hi Kitty,

I do not let my kids sleep with the maid for 1 simple reason. When the maid goes back, we will have a hard time to adjust their sleeping arrangement. Currently, both my kids zzz with us in the same bedroom. We intend to let both kids sleep by themselves when my DD1 turns 5.
 
Dear all, can I check and see if anyone have similar experience?

I have a maid who had just finished her loan. Caught her in the past wearing my clothes and using my facial care stuff. I have made her write down a "confession and her promise not to do it again". Her own utensils and cup were very dirty and once when I check it was so slimy!! She even grow long fingernails and were very unhappy when I make her cut her fingernails. There was a foreign worker who will appear at my doorstep every alt week and look into the house for her. And lately at night time around 12.30am there will be ppl calling my house to look for her.

Despite all that, she have been with me for 8mths as she is alway smiling and polite. But recently she became very lazy and ignore or talk back whenever I reproach her about her mistake. She reaches my limit the other day when my family reaches home at 9pm and she have not even mop the floor.

My contact with the agency says I would have to pay the agency lodging at $15 perday for up til 30 days. if she still cannot find a employer, I will still have to pay for her airticket. So I do not really wan to send her back to agent. What else can I do in this case?
 
My runaway is still with embassy! She just wants to go home. Don't even want to transfer. Agency also v slow with getting replacements...can I get my money back from agency?
 
Can I ask what is the average pay for fresh Phil and fresh indo maids now? Agency told us it's $420 + 1 off day for Phil and $480 (no off day) for indo... Is that so? Quite exp leh...
 
Hi Kitty,

I am going to extend my current maid's contract. According to my agency, fresh Filipino is $420 (1 off-day) and $450 (no off day). Based on this guideline, I am increasing my maid's pay to $450 with 1 off day. She is happy with it.
 
snowball...

me same as u, increase my maid's pay tho she is oni 1 year, cos she knows her frens who are coming now are getting $450, and she only $350 (i got her b4 the new rules), so i better increase b4 she makes noise. i am giving her $400 with 1 off day.
 
hi all,
haiz... my myanmar maid loan finish this month end and she want to go back to agent. cos she feel very stress caring for my 1st boy. I understand it is a very stressful job, as my boy is ultra cranky at all time. I also dunno what to do with my boy sometimes.
what to do, rather let her go even thought i very please with her, then let her snap one day and did something terrible.
have to go thru the process of training maid again very sianz... somemore this will be the 3rd one for this year.
 
Maid salary now so high huh. How do average families cope? Add levy plus food and utilities, it is easily at least 20% of an average person's monthly pay. Wow.

Hey, need some advise here. My runaway is still with embassy. She is so homesick that she ran there. But agent is not doing anything about it. Is there anything I can do? What are the implications for me if she remains at embassy? TIA!
 
Hi Kitty,

If I am not wrong, the Agency has to take over the make after 2 weeks (if she still cannot get transferred). This should be in the Contract.

You can tell your agency that you 1 to cancel her work permit and send the maid home. No point keeping a ticking timebomb here.

OR, maybe you can seek advice from MoM on how to handle this situation?
 
Snowball, if I send maid back, I won't be able to get my $ back from them...

Nor sure abt the 2 weeks thing. Hmm, I need to check the contract again.
 
OMG. This is getting too much. Need to rant a bit. The agent called me today abt a new bio she just received. Asked if I would like to interview this maid. I said ok. Interviewed the gal, found her quite ok. But I wanted to see the bio first and I also wanted to let hb take a look, in case he has other opinions. So agent emailed me at 12noon. Being a Sat, I am on my own with 2 kids. So I could only check email about 15 min later. I fwded it to hb (who was at work, but able to have internet access). He checked his email, we discussed it and decided ok. Was about to call agent, when she called me. That was at 1.30pm. She says maid is taken already. I'm like WTH!! She knows out situation that we need a helper. She knows that we are considering this one. Yet she doesn't KIV it for us? It is so unreasonable. Couldn't she call me to check if I'm definitely taking or rejecting before letting others take her?

So far, all the other bios she emailed to us are unsuitable - either high salary or not willing to help look after children and do housework. Either that, or the bios emailed to us, we are not able to interview the maid. Why are we not able to interview the maid? Because the maid is on the way to SG already. So cannot interview. Is that possible? Are they allowed to bring in maids without employer?

And they refuse to refund us the outstanding loan amt. Not able to find us anything suitable, still don't want to refund. I will be taking this up with CASE, but is there anything else I can do?
 
Hi Kitty,

You can read the Employment Contract. Most contract will state that employer pays for the WP and lodging of the maid for up to 2 weeks, afterwhich, the agency takes over.

On the portion on taking back the loan $$$, you can check with MoM on the regulations governing this. You may also want to Tamarind's Maid Blog where you can find very useful advice there.

Think you should bring your agency to CASE to bring them to task.
 
Snowball, employer pays for lodging food etc if maid is with agency. But in this case, she is with embassy. So, nothing to pay... Hehs.

I went to CASE already. The guy there says shd go AEAS, but they still can't force agent to pay coz they are accredition authority only. Then after that is Small Claims.
 
Hi Kitty,

But, for everyday she is at the Embassy, she is still under your employment. You should check with MoM on how to settle this.

You still have to the Maid's levy for everyday she is with the Embassy, which is not fair to you. Agency should take over if its more than 2 weeks.....shouldn't they? What is MoM's advice on this?
 
we can claim waiver for the levy. so no issue there. embassy is more than happy to write a letter stating the period she is housed by them, for us to claim the waiver/refund of levy. MOM says to settle with agebcy. go small claims and mediation. sounds crap to me, the way the solution is suggested. we could always get a replacement but their bio all not suitable!
 
Hi CSI Fan,

Sorry to disturb, I have dropped you a PM regarding a different issue.

Hope that you can get back to me ya?

Thanks and have a good weekend.
 
I got a feeling that all maids get lazy after some time? I told mine to sweep floor twice a day. Now she 'conveniently forgot' to sweep in the afternoon. She also takes naps cos she has got her own room behind the kitchen. BTW, she wakes up at 7 am. Ggrrhh....
 
Lemontree,
What time does she sleep?did u allow her to nap? Or she just nap on her own? Was she given a nap time in the first place?
Y dun u just relied her to sweep the floor in the afternoon? Anyone home to supervise her? What's her duties like n how long she been w u?

Well.. its human nature to b lazy...sometimes we do get lazy too! She is just a human being... as long as she does the important chores... n the necessary ones... I guess u can close eyes... is she good in the first place?
happy.gif
happy.gif
 
Hi mummies,

Anyone can enlighten me if u do let your maid sleep 8hrs a day?
My maid slept at 11:30pm but she wake up around 7plus in the morning. So is already almost 8hrs sleep, yet she still take nap in the afternoon too.
 
My maid rests in the room by 10pm. I did not specify what time she must sleep, so it's up to her. She definitely gets at least 8 hrs of rest per day. I understand it's human nature to be lazy, but at least must finish her afternoon chores before she naps right? Or at least after she naps, must sweep the floor right?

Another thing I'm not happy about is that she brings my dog for a walk twice a day, and they are out for one hour each time. I dun think my dog takes so long to poo. Her behavior is making me suspicious. I just dunno wat she is doing outside for that one hr.

She had been ok so far, with me for a year. Just that she can be grouchy sometimes and give black face. She will 'yes ma'am ', yet dun follow instructions.

Keep asking myself to endure. Nowadays difficult to find maid who is willing to work even for one year.
 
Mummies, would u take a transfer maid who has been here for 5 mths (2 employers in the 5 mths), and will have another 6 mths loan if u hire her. So means all in, she would have gone with no pay for 11 mths before she gets her first full pay. Advisable to take her?
 
Hi CSI_Fan

I dont think i will take her, cos she noe tt she is work 4 free, her attitude will b very poor, she will come here juz like holiday, will juz past time, cos free accomodation n food mah! tis is my personal opinion lar... nt all e same, but i think there is a possibility there lor..
recently encounter 1 maid oso x'fer 2 time within 2 mths, i nearly 1 2 take her, then aft think over nt rite, so nv take her, u noe hw? she x'fer again within 5 days in another employer, so, i think wat i said is quite rite.. juz 4 reference.
 
Hi Sandra,

True...u hv a point. Poor thing lorh these gals. Agency just add more loan to them. I won't go to these agencies if I can help it. Found another agency, they dun add on to the transfer maid's loan (ie. Original loan amt was 7 mths, transfer after 3 mths. Now if I were to take her, loan amt will be 4 mths). I think that is fair.

Mummies, just to chk...not sure if any of u know. I just selected a transfer maid. I'll be buying insurance for her myself (coz I dun like the coverage offered by agent's insurer - some insurer that I've nvr come across b4). I saw from Tenet and Income's website, that there is a performance bond insurance req by Phil embassy. Any idea what is that and is that a must? I've not heard abt this from maid agent. Called agent, agent also say dunno leh, nvr heard b4...
 
Hi CSI Fan,

I just renewed my Filipino maid's WP and Insurance via Tenet. My maid's agency did all for me. Din know that there is such clause. Are you referring to the undertaking for the min. wage that employers has to sign for the Philippines Govt to release the maid?
 
hi ladies

Been MIA for a long time. Just to update, my maid so far so good, and very good with the children. Housework so so. Cooking also not too bad and loves to read recipe and try to invent new dishes.

Her loan finishes this month and she will get her full pay. She has a cousin who is coming down to work for my aunty and uncle as they are both 2 old folks living alone. She is aware that new maids now are earning 400 per month with one off day. Can i check with you ladies, when do we start to increase the maid's salary? Is it after their 2 year contract is over or what? Before she came down, we told her that we will monitor her during her 2 year contract and then see whether to increase her salary or give her an additional day off.

She is sensible enough not to compare with other maids' pay and remuneration, but then again, we will never know. Her performance is good so far and she has been a great help to me.

Also, recently she complained that she can't see clearly so brought her to the optician and discovered that she needs to wear glasses. I paid for her glasses which costs 140, and i told her that i cannot sponsor for this in full. The agent told me that employers are not obligated to pay for their spectacles, but if we want to, its an agreement between the maid and us. I am thinking of helping her a bit on the cost. Please advise.
 
Hi Snowball, oh eventually I found out that that one is for maid's going on home leave. Anyway, that Phil transfer maid also ran...3 days into the job. I am so suay. That maid even came by our home to see the place etc. So she knows what she's going into. Think she has some history, probably dun want to work in SG anymore (she ex Saudi one. Probably like there better), but dun want to be responsible for the loan so just run to embassy. Now I have a Myanmar maid. Hope she'll be good.

But, I have nothing much for her (or any of my maids) to do! Morning, clean floor (sweep and mop), wipe shelves, wash clothes, wash toilet, clean children's toys. That's all. Afternoon she rests / reads. I only worry she gets bored and start to hv funny ideas. Any suggestions on what I can get her to do? Both kids are in CC full day.
 
CSI gan: maybe can put your kids in half day CC? Then she will be busy already and have more things to do rather then idle or gets bored and mind starts wondering....
 


Hi Kitty,

Both my kids also attend fullday care and my maid stays at home to do housework and cooking. It has been 18 mths since we did so and so far so good. I am more stringent on the quality of her housework since my 2 kids goes to fullday care.

Usually, she is done with the basic housework by lunchtime. After lunch, she will prepare for dinner and do folding and ironing of clothes.

By then, it will be time to fetch the kids from CC with my MIL.
 
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