Please do not go to Universal Employment.
We just got misled there.
Here is what happen.
We had a maid from them abt 1 month ago from the parkway office.
We were promised of a "lifetime replacement" as claim by the sales rep to justify the $1500 agency fees we paid. Although we know that its so many times higher than the usual $388, we foolishly thought that since its a lifetime replacement, why not.
She brought us through the wordy contract and explained to us the areas which are excluded from this free replacement policy. She told us this is only effective after 6 months, and also replacement is only for 3rd (lowest) tier of maid. If we want the higher tier, i.e transfer maid with 2 yrs exp, we have to top up a few hundreds.
This is also fine with us. By giving such clear explanation by them, we thought that all that is needed to know are clearly explained to us. We never expect that this is only a partial disclosure. They only tell us the less important exclusions.
Now they are telling us that if the helper is returning to Philippines, it is excluded from this replacement policy. This is totally different from what they told us earlier: Pay them $1500 agency fee, you can use them a lifetime.
As we seek clarifications from them, they claim that maids hardly wish to go back for good because it is difficult and costly for them to come here. So we don’t have to worry about this. That is not what I felt. I heard of maids going back for good after they earn enough or they just want to work in other countries.
Finally, they told us that this exclusion is mentioned in the contract. My husband and I combed through the contracts several times, we simply cannot find that clause. Then when we press them further, they pointed us to a clause which says the replacement policy is not effective if “the maid refuse to transfer”. So to them, it implies that if the maid is not staying in Singapore anymore, the replacement policy lapse. We were dumbfounded. This was not explained or highlighted to us at all. Yet they only highlight to us the least important exclusions.
So folks, dont just go for "good" agency, thinking that you pay more agency fees, they will be credible.
Although there is nothing i can do since they claim to be in the market for 26 years, I can only pre-warn people not to be deceived by this “premier” agency that charges $1500 agency fees.