Hi all,
I'm in a dilemma now. I really hope that someone out there who has experienced this situation help me. Last year in September I engaged a Myanmar maid from MY MAIDS STATION at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre. I am not afraid to post their name out as they have very unsculpulous means of running their business. I brought the maid home, her name is Hla Yin, beware of her. I really pity the employer who has gotten her but somehow it’s of good riddance to me. This girl’s loan amount then was $2500, a salary amount of $350 every month. Agency charged agency fee and test fee which is standard for most agencies.
When she came, we didn’t take note of anything strange about this girl. Until after a month, my mum in law caught her red-handed drinking barley that she had boiled directly from a 5L bottle at an angle high up. My mum-in-law stopped her and querried her, the girl claimed that she was looking for ants and denied drinking! What a liar! I came home after work and interrogated the girl and she continued to deny and even swear that she didn’t drink. I even told her if she had done it, apologise and don’t do it again. She kept denying, my mum-in-law was furious when she is the one who caught her red-handed. After a while, the girl suddenly knelt down and said Sorry Sir, Sorry Mam. She can lie through her teeth. From then, we watched her every move and only to find out that she’s horrible. She didn’t even wash my baby bottles and sterilized them. I noticed the milk fat stains and orange carrot juice lined in the bottles and teats. She even cause 2 of my parquet skirting to drop out, my bomb shelter door to be spoilt, now can’t even close. Even my window 2 panel grill could even be pluck out. There was one incident whereby she didn’t close my hot thermal bottle and all the water spilled in my diaper bag and scalded me husband’s lap as he placed it on his lap, it was so lucky that he didn’t have the baby with him. She wasn’t at all apologetic.
Her personal hygiene was also horrible. Can you imagine, she could do housework for the entire day and not bathe at all, didn’t change her clothes, go to sleep and the next day carried on doing her housework. It’s normal for maids to eat from hands, I don’t mind that but at least be neat and clean. When she eats, she will use that same hand to scratch her head, continue to eat and takes up her t-shirt and wipes her mouth and scratch her hair, didn’t wash hand, then collects the laundry. When she cuts raw meat, after cutting, she rubs her hands on her pants and does other things. These are actions that I’ve caught her several times and reminded her not to do but it didn’t change. My friends even wondered how I could tolerate such a person. When she washes clothes by hand, she just dips in the water, take out and squeeze and that’s called washed. We didn’t take note until after the barley incident. Thinking that she doesn’t know how to wash clothes by hand, my mum-in-law taught her for many days. This girl washed according to how she was taught only for a week and when she sees my mum-in-law(MIL) watching her, she scrubs the clothes and when MIL is not looking she dips and squeeze. It just shows that this maid is lazy. One Saturday, we went out at 10am, I told her since we are going out, she had better ironed all the 16pcs of clothes that she had chalked up for ironing. Since we were not around, I believe doing housework should be easier as she doesn’t need to prepare food nor cook. I came back at 11pm, I got a shock of my life. I saw the mopping pail and a mop on the floor and when I asked her what had she not done, she hasn’t washed the kitchen, not even the toilets. Needless to say the 16pcs of clothes was not touched at all. Even my laundry basket was doubled in height and all those are for machine wash. I asked her what she had been doing, she said that she was very busy cleaning that day. What a joke!
Anyway, all those are secondary, I returned her after 2 months and got a replacement. I had to top up her loan to $3120. Now, I’m very particular about my maids as I have 3 dogs and I always reminded the agency that I need a maid who can take care and likes dogs. Agency reassured me that their maids are willing to take care of dogs. Ok, the replacement Myanmar maid came here to be a princess and not a maid. She wore hairbands with big flowers on it. I mean I am fine with that. Agency also lied that she didn’t have any siblings here and in the end, when she arrived, she has a sister here, apparently worked here in Singapore for quite some time and is with the same agency. The day she came to my house, the next day she requested to call her mother in Myanmar. This girl is a Mummy’s girl. When I taught her how to cook, I even cooked her share, she can say, “ Mam, I don’t want to eat this.” And she shake her head. The worst part was she didn’t even know how to cook at all not to say her own Myanmar food. Even when my MIL want to cook, she will ask the maid, “ Do you want to eat this?” I was so pissed off as I felt that we were keeping a princess and not a maid. I noticed that she didn’t like dogs at all and even kicked them. Apparently, this princess wasn’t used to picking up the dog poo too when I have initially exaggerated to the agency that my dogs poo every 15mins and girl said its ok. So I decided to tell the girl that I cant possibly cook her Myanmar food and specially cook something that she liked to eat. I told her that I will only cook for my family and if there’s leftover, she can choose to eat or she can take anything from the fridge to cook her own meal. Well, my friends said that I was stupid. How can she be allowed such treatment. In the end, the girl cried as she doesn’t even know how to cook so how to cook her own meal? The next day, she ranaway and I noticed that she had been calling her sister in Singapore. This girl only worked for 5 days but was transferred soon after.
I went back to agency only to find that the previous maid, Hla Yin reported us for a maid abuse. So my husband and I had to go down to the police station to take down our statements. Most of the allegations were against my husband so he was also called in by MOM.. Apparently, the maid didn’t even have any bodily harm on her body just an allergy of her hands which she didn’t even mention to me. C’mon, if she is a 31 year old lady and if any part of her is not well, she should tell me but she didn’t. I don’t think any employer would go around checking their maid’s body every now and then right! My husband had to undergo a lie detector test and a lot of unnecessary time was wasted. At the end of the day, the case had ended mid April 2011. It was a false allegation from the maid. The maid (Hla Yin) was already transferred in February. When I reported the case to the police as the maid has caused us unnecessary duress and stress this period of time for giving false allegation, the police said that they can’t do anything about it. SO lousy right! When a maid reports, the police investigates. When an employer reports her for false allegation, the police ignores. What kind of world is this! The police even said that if I want, I can get a lawyer to sue the maid, what is this! What do I stand to gain by wasting more money to sue a penniless maid.
Anyway, the main issue now is that the maid refused to return my upfront loan of $3000+, having pro-rated the 5 days from the new maid who ranaway. MY MAIDS STATION apparently claimed that Hla Yin stayed with them during police investigation for 90 days and they want to charge me $20/day for food and lodging which amounts to $1800. They were only willing to return us $1200. I felt that it was absurd. Firstly, in the contract, it states clearly that its $10/day before the maid is being transferred and up to a maximum of 30 days and thereafter, agency will bear. Now, they charged me $20/day and it’s for 90 days. My goodness! I had to get a lawyer to write them a letter asking for my $3k. They refused and only willing to return a maximum of $1800 and even gave me a grace period of 7 days of accepting that $1800. I feel that this agency is out to cheat people and who knows, they might be the devils advocate teaching their maids what to do to gain that big buck. You see, they added loan amount to the maid when she transferred and on the other hand, get money from my side. How shrewd are they! I even suggested instead of 3k, we’ll just accept $2.5k but they refused to return. I wanted to sue them my the amount does not justify the lawyers’ fees, I mean it’s not tens of thousands but 3k is definitely not a small amount either. My friends said that it is quite pointless to go to Case as they are just middleman and probably nothing will be done from there.
Does anyone have any suggestion what I can do or anyone who has experienced such situation to advice me on what I should do? If I go to small claims, will I be able to get back my entire $3k or what’s the max that I can possibly get? Anyone who has any suggestions, you can PM me and I really appreciate your help. I really hope that the government can look into these kind of real life situations instead of gaining votes and not helping their own people.
I'm in a dilemma now. I really hope that someone out there who has experienced this situation help me. Last year in September I engaged a Myanmar maid from MY MAIDS STATION at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre. I am not afraid to post their name out as they have very unsculpulous means of running their business. I brought the maid home, her name is Hla Yin, beware of her. I really pity the employer who has gotten her but somehow it’s of good riddance to me. This girl’s loan amount then was $2500, a salary amount of $350 every month. Agency charged agency fee and test fee which is standard for most agencies.
When she came, we didn’t take note of anything strange about this girl. Until after a month, my mum in law caught her red-handed drinking barley that she had boiled directly from a 5L bottle at an angle high up. My mum-in-law stopped her and querried her, the girl claimed that she was looking for ants and denied drinking! What a liar! I came home after work and interrogated the girl and she continued to deny and even swear that she didn’t drink. I even told her if she had done it, apologise and don’t do it again. She kept denying, my mum-in-law was furious when she is the one who caught her red-handed. After a while, the girl suddenly knelt down and said Sorry Sir, Sorry Mam. She can lie through her teeth. From then, we watched her every move and only to find out that she’s horrible. She didn’t even wash my baby bottles and sterilized them. I noticed the milk fat stains and orange carrot juice lined in the bottles and teats. She even cause 2 of my parquet skirting to drop out, my bomb shelter door to be spoilt, now can’t even close. Even my window 2 panel grill could even be pluck out. There was one incident whereby she didn’t close my hot thermal bottle and all the water spilled in my diaper bag and scalded me husband’s lap as he placed it on his lap, it was so lucky that he didn’t have the baby with him. She wasn’t at all apologetic.
Her personal hygiene was also horrible. Can you imagine, she could do housework for the entire day and not bathe at all, didn’t change her clothes, go to sleep and the next day carried on doing her housework. It’s normal for maids to eat from hands, I don’t mind that but at least be neat and clean. When she eats, she will use that same hand to scratch her head, continue to eat and takes up her t-shirt and wipes her mouth and scratch her hair, didn’t wash hand, then collects the laundry. When she cuts raw meat, after cutting, she rubs her hands on her pants and does other things. These are actions that I’ve caught her several times and reminded her not to do but it didn’t change. My friends even wondered how I could tolerate such a person. When she washes clothes by hand, she just dips in the water, take out and squeeze and that’s called washed. We didn’t take note until after the barley incident. Thinking that she doesn’t know how to wash clothes by hand, my mum-in-law taught her for many days. This girl washed according to how she was taught only for a week and when she sees my mum-in-law(MIL) watching her, she scrubs the clothes and when MIL is not looking she dips and squeeze. It just shows that this maid is lazy. One Saturday, we went out at 10am, I told her since we are going out, she had better ironed all the 16pcs of clothes that she had chalked up for ironing. Since we were not around, I believe doing housework should be easier as she doesn’t need to prepare food nor cook. I came back at 11pm, I got a shock of my life. I saw the mopping pail and a mop on the floor and when I asked her what had she not done, she hasn’t washed the kitchen, not even the toilets. Needless to say the 16pcs of clothes was not touched at all. Even my laundry basket was doubled in height and all those are for machine wash. I asked her what she had been doing, she said that she was very busy cleaning that day. What a joke!
Anyway, all those are secondary, I returned her after 2 months and got a replacement. I had to top up her loan to $3120. Now, I’m very particular about my maids as I have 3 dogs and I always reminded the agency that I need a maid who can take care and likes dogs. Agency reassured me that their maids are willing to take care of dogs. Ok, the replacement Myanmar maid came here to be a princess and not a maid. She wore hairbands with big flowers on it. I mean I am fine with that. Agency also lied that she didn’t have any siblings here and in the end, when she arrived, she has a sister here, apparently worked here in Singapore for quite some time and is with the same agency. The day she came to my house, the next day she requested to call her mother in Myanmar. This girl is a Mummy’s girl. When I taught her how to cook, I even cooked her share, she can say, “ Mam, I don’t want to eat this.” And she shake her head. The worst part was she didn’t even know how to cook at all not to say her own Myanmar food. Even when my MIL want to cook, she will ask the maid, “ Do you want to eat this?” I was so pissed off as I felt that we were keeping a princess and not a maid. I noticed that she didn’t like dogs at all and even kicked them. Apparently, this princess wasn’t used to picking up the dog poo too when I have initially exaggerated to the agency that my dogs poo every 15mins and girl said its ok. So I decided to tell the girl that I cant possibly cook her Myanmar food and specially cook something that she liked to eat. I told her that I will only cook for my family and if there’s leftover, she can choose to eat or she can take anything from the fridge to cook her own meal. Well, my friends said that I was stupid. How can she be allowed such treatment. In the end, the girl cried as she doesn’t even know how to cook so how to cook her own meal? The next day, she ranaway and I noticed that she had been calling her sister in Singapore. This girl only worked for 5 days but was transferred soon after.
I went back to agency only to find that the previous maid, Hla Yin reported us for a maid abuse. So my husband and I had to go down to the police station to take down our statements. Most of the allegations were against my husband so he was also called in by MOM.. Apparently, the maid didn’t even have any bodily harm on her body just an allergy of her hands which she didn’t even mention to me. C’mon, if she is a 31 year old lady and if any part of her is not well, she should tell me but she didn’t. I don’t think any employer would go around checking their maid’s body every now and then right! My husband had to undergo a lie detector test and a lot of unnecessary time was wasted. At the end of the day, the case had ended mid April 2011. It was a false allegation from the maid. The maid (Hla Yin) was already transferred in February. When I reported the case to the police as the maid has caused us unnecessary duress and stress this period of time for giving false allegation, the police said that they can’t do anything about it. SO lousy right! When a maid reports, the police investigates. When an employer reports her for false allegation, the police ignores. What kind of world is this! The police even said that if I want, I can get a lawyer to sue the maid, what is this! What do I stand to gain by wasting more money to sue a penniless maid.
Anyway, the main issue now is that the maid refused to return my upfront loan of $3000+, having pro-rated the 5 days from the new maid who ranaway. MY MAIDS STATION apparently claimed that Hla Yin stayed with them during police investigation for 90 days and they want to charge me $20/day for food and lodging which amounts to $1800. They were only willing to return us $1200. I felt that it was absurd. Firstly, in the contract, it states clearly that its $10/day before the maid is being transferred and up to a maximum of 30 days and thereafter, agency will bear. Now, they charged me $20/day and it’s for 90 days. My goodness! I had to get a lawyer to write them a letter asking for my $3k. They refused and only willing to return a maximum of $1800 and even gave me a grace period of 7 days of accepting that $1800. I feel that this agency is out to cheat people and who knows, they might be the devils advocate teaching their maids what to do to gain that big buck. You see, they added loan amount to the maid when she transferred and on the other hand, get money from my side. How shrewd are they! I even suggested instead of 3k, we’ll just accept $2.5k but they refused to return. I wanted to sue them my the amount does not justify the lawyers’ fees, I mean it’s not tens of thousands but 3k is definitely not a small amount either. My friends said that it is quite pointless to go to Case as they are just middleman and probably nothing will be done from there.
Does anyone have any suggestion what I can do or anyone who has experienced such situation to advice me on what I should do? If I go to small claims, will I be able to get back my entire $3k or what’s the max that I can possibly get? Anyone who has any suggestions, you can PM me and I really appreciate your help. I really hope that the government can look into these kind of real life situations instead of gaining votes and not helping their own people.