Dear all,
I would like to share my friend's experiences with maids.
<font color="0000ff">The first Indon maid I had was a transfer maid. P swore she was 21 then, before the rule of age 23 applied. When she wanted to leave after 7 months, she went around telling everyone that she was only 16! And she did act and behave like a 16 yr old. She scared me enough to let her go when she told me that she had "repeated dreams for a week about seeing a woman with a tudung (Muslim head-dress), dressed in white, slitting the throat of a man, and it happened in MY bedroom." (From Maid Power)
Then had an ex-Saudi. So slow and inept in her work that I changed after 2 months. (From Sunshine)
The third Indon maid A had worked 2 years in Malaysia. Spoke good English, but was so dirty and smelly that I had to let her go after 8 months. Pitied her and let her transfer. ( A mistake on my part) (From Sunshine)
Then has a reliable 4th maid for 2 years. Young girl who went home at 24. (From Crislo)
2 horror maids followed. The first one was fierce. If I did not let her go, she might have turned violent like Sonjia Kwok's maid. My husband kept cautioning me to be careful with her. The second declared herself "stupid' 3 hours into her emplkoyment, and asked fro transfer.
Then employed an ex-HK Indon maid who claimed that her employers had migrated to Canada after 8 months with them. Crislo "highly recommended S who spoke Cantonese and worked in a 3storied house, serving 3 adults, washed 4 cars daily, and bathed their 2 dogs." So I thought , good, this is a "good find". Turned out that the ex-HK maid was slow , extremely forgetful at 24, and under declared her height, and could not wash and iron properly, not to say cook. After she repaid her loan, she ran away to the Embassy one Sunday morning after stealing 2 bags of dried mushrooms and my personal file!!
Then 2 more incompetent and trouble causing maids from Crislo. The first let a stranger into the house, and also broke my glass shower door. Also damaged a lot of household stuff. The second kept wanting to transfer, changed her mind and then harped on transfer again and again. So eventually let her go. And that was when Crislo tried to delay my refund of the balance of the upfront loan.
We changed agent. Two other Indon maids came from AUK . The first came for 10 days,and was hospitalised for 2 weeks at SGH for suspected "flesh eating bacteria". Upon discharge, the agent sent her home. This was the most excruciating experience we had with maids. We were frightened for the first 3 days by the doctors that the maid could die any minute.
The replacement from AUK came after 2 months. One week later, pretended to faint from "overwork" at 11am. Summoned the agent to the house and sent her and agent to the GP at 4 pm after the maid was "strong enough to stand with help". All this was pretence. Another week went by, and then she pretended to faint again at 10am. Can a maid be so overworked by 10am? We got the agent over and take her away . Subsequently, I learnt from the MOM maid Work Permit check that this maid was eventaully sent home after 2 months setting foot in my house. I was the 1st employer, lasted 2 weeks with me. Got a transfer. Lasted 1 week. And the third employer must have found her unsuitable as well, and her last day of work in Singapore was 2 months after she started with me.
I am now through with employing Foreign domestic workers, especially Indon. Every horror story that can be told of these Indon maids, I have faced.
Filipino maids are no better. I have had that share too before I engaged Indon.
Some writers in the Motherhood forum have wondered if maids with overseas experience are better than new ones. Others are considering ex-Middle East maids. I have tried them all. One has just to take a chance. But if your luck is as bad as mine, then nothing helps, except do the work yourself, or rely on LOCAL part-time help. I am doing quite fine now.
Be careful when you employ employing ex-HK maids. Sonija Kwok's maid may just find her way here to Singapore as HK does not allow FDWs to return to HK to work. And especially DO NOT employ ex-HK maids who have not completed the 2 year contract there. It just means they were fired for whatever reason. I was conned by Crislo, and she was still pushing ex-HK maids to me after S ran away. (Actually, I checked, and S is back in Singapore, but I do not know where she works. I am still sore that she stole my personal file)
There was another story some time back that an Indon maid seduced a young teenaged boy in HK too.
</font>
More advise from my friend :
<font color="ff6000">
Employers of FDWs should buy at least the Plan 2 of the medical insurance for a FDW. This allows for a hospitalisation & surgical expenses up to $8000. The hospitalisation expenses for the Indon maid I had came up to $6,600. I got every cent back. I bought Plan 2. Plan 1 entitles to only $5000.
I give a summary of the 3 medical plans available (with GST):
Plan 1 Premium $144.45 Medical: $5000
Plan 2 Premium $165.85 $8000
Plan 3 Premium $208.65 $10000
Of course one must also include the runaway bond and the MOM guarantee.</font>