GOOD MAID AGENCY


Hi

I have use sun agency at bukit timah, good agency but as for maid it depends on luck? interested i will pm you the number
 
yeah.. i thk it is not the agency, but ur luck in getting a suitable maid.. guess a gd agency can help wif the nec co-ordination. went to this agency at amk near popular recently.. the boss kept on scoding the trsfer maids there n kept wanting me to choose the 2 transfer maids there.. i just left shortly after..
 
i guess what PREcious mean in "good agency" is "responsible agency" ...

True that getting a good maid is purely luck .. but if kanna an irresponsible agent ...it is arsx luck !

Some agent very irresponsible - pass you a crazy maid & doesn't wanna claim responsibility ... but if the agent is good, they will usually not make the employer bear the repatriation costs if they sense the maid is "something wrong" (be it physically or mentally incapable). This makes a real difference in "good" maid agency versus "bad/lousy" (irresponsible) maid agency
 
Hi Precious, I strongly agreed with YingYing that having a good maid is purely luck. I got my first helper 3 years ago when I'm expecting my second boy & thought it will be much more cost-saving to get a maid rather than to send the 2 boys to my nanny who stayed so faraway from me (& I'm only weekend parent).

Being first-timer of getting a maid, & having no idea where & how to start, also by "pure luck" or by chance we stepped into this small agency in Katong Shopping Centre. (this is only the second agency that we stepped into) It's run by a husband & wife team.

I am in no way affiliated with them though now have become good friends with them (from a total stranger initially) because of their "extra mile" service. Thus my intention here is just to share this experience with "newbie" (like me years ago) who need to employ a helper & has no idea which agency to check out.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to "introduce" their agency in this forum. Hence, will just provide the lady-boss name & contact no.

JENNY - Contact No. : 6344 2042 (agency in Katong Shopping Centre)

Can I post their charges here?

Hope my posting helps those who are in need of getting a helper :>
kao_cheers.gif
 
hi,

i would like to get a maid to help out as well.it's my first time getting a maid.. is there anything i need to look out for?wat are some of the essentials things i need to pay attention to? can pls advise? I've yet to go to any agency coz i dunno wat to ask.. other than the $$. can advise pls?tks!
 
My wife and I are also starting to source for maid. You have to complete the online course by Singapore Polytechnic and obtain the certificate before you can go to any maid agencies to choose your maid.

For more details, you can try reading http://singaporemaid.blogspot.com/ . The website has a good wealth of information inside for first time employer.
 
Have a maid agent that I would higly recommend. Three other mummies from this forum have also engaged him at my recommendation.

I have hired both my current maids from him - one very good on the first hire and the other one required a replacement but he did it for me promptly and waived the charges. Very understanding of mothers' needs (first maid to take care of my 2 year girl and second maid to take care of my 1 year old boy).

His name is Bernard and his mobile is 9824 7086.

If his fees are still the same (my last hire was in March 09), I think I paid less than $500 for all the paperwork and insurance for each maid. Comes with one time free replacement. So far, one of the cheapest (of course that is not the main draw) around.

PM me if you need help. Btw, I'm not related to him (you can check my postings on this forum that I'm a bona fide mother of two with two maids)
happy.gif
 
I hired a transfer maid from JPB Management Services (Katong), who requested to go back to the agency only after working 3 days for me. I could not successfully get a replacement maid from JPB since then because the available maids that I selected do not want to look after my newborn baby. As I needed a maid urgently, I turned to another agency to employ a maid. Now JPB is refusing to process the refund of the placement fee of $2K+, the insurance fee and waiver that I have paid upfront.

I've written to the JPB management, but have no reply from them. They are shunning me and when I finally got hold of the branch manager after persistent calling, she advised me to top up another $99 on top of the agency fee that I've paid to 'upgrade' my package to a refundable package. I felt this was very unfair. Where can I go to get help?
 
what's wrong with those maids? Even tho they've been informed be4hand they need to take care of newborns (and they willingly acccepted). Once they start working for u a few days, will wan transfer, reason being "scared newborn baby".
 
Hi BabySage,

Would like to ask if your maid is a new maid or a transfer maid. Whats their salary like? Spoke to Bernard and he said that if intention for getting maid is for child minding, its better to get maid from the Philippines.

Appreciate your reply.
 
Hi,

I'm looking for a transfer maid with prior experience. If you know of or letting go a good transfer maid with the following criteria, kindly PM me with details and the relevant contact number. Thank you so much.

- Filipino, Indonesian maid.
- Must be able to speak English.
- Keen, experienced and able to take care of young children
- Able to cook, and perform general housekeeping.
- Pleasant personality with good attitude
- Willing to work without days off or max 1 day off/month
 
Please don't use the service of LabourExpress @ Bukit Timah Shopping Centre. I sent my maid back to agency without her luggage for bad attitude and discovered she had stole quite a bit of money from me the next day when packing her belongings to send back to agency. When I told the agency that I'm going to make a police report, the boss Mr Seah called and shouted at me. He told me not to get his agency involved as this was between the maid and us. He would not let me step into his agency and hurled vulgarities at me. My husband took over the phone and asked what he wanted, upon which, he slammed the phone down.
Though I know he has a biz to conduct, he could have made request and we would have acceded. Anyway, he rushed the maid back to my house within half an hour so that I won't go to his shop. I feel that if this agency just shield from responsibility when things happen, then they don't deserve our business.
 
There are some maid agencies that you can contact. Some provide the best maid in town. There are some with well-experienced and well-trained maids. Here are some of the agencies you can contact. 121 Personnel Services Pte. Ltd., Universal Employment Agency Pte. Ltd., Nesah EnterpriseEmplyment Agency, E. Excel Employment Agency, SG Manpower, United Home Employment Agency Pte. Ltd., SLF Green Maid Agency.
 
Hi piggythots, i shld have came to this forum and read about your comment on labour express, especially this Mr Seah, yes he is a hooligan. To all, please think twice if u wanna get any maid from them, think twice....
 
Hi, anyone have good maid to recommend or transfer based on the following criteria:

- Filipino maid.
- Must be able to speak English.
- Keen, experienced and able to take care of newborn & young children
- Able to cook, and perform general housekeeping.
- Pleasant personality with good attitude
- Willing to work without days off or max 1 day off/month.
- Work together with another Filipino in the household. Will rotate their duties monthly.

Tks
 
Hi,

I'm looking for a transfer maid with experience. kindly PM me with details and the relevant contact number.

- Filipino
- Must be able to speak English.
- Experienced and able to take care of young children
- Able to cook, and perform general housekeeping.
- Pleasant personality with good attitude
- Willing to work without days off or max 1 day off/month

I will need the maid ard end of June..Please do PM me if you have..Thanks in advance!

^.^
 
Hi, Am getting a maid as my baby will be due in Aug, hoping for a maid to lessen the load. Anyone here can share how much is the upfront cost fo getting a maid? and is it advisable to get a maid rather than confinement lady?
 
Hi Xiaobao81
I just applied for another filipino maid, agency fee is S$890 and maid's loan is S$2800. For myself, i think its better to get a confinement lady during the 1st month and let the maid learn from the confinement lady cos most of the maids who came as fresh maids won't know what to do with the newborn and i don't believe the baby will be in good hands with them. No point taking the risk lor.
 
andver, thks for the sound advise, initially thought that if we decided to get a maid, no point wasting 2k plus to get a confinement lady, but hearing ur advise, will reconsider my option..
 
hi xiaobao, you're most welcome. alot of maid, they'll say they hv experience in taking care of newborn but no matter how, their ways of taking care is different from ours so its best to let them learn from confinement nanny lor.
 
Hi Soho

You can try Homemaker Employment Services. Look for Eevon (after 11:00am), tel: 62807837. But they only have filipinos.
 
Hi Mummies,

Don't know if this is the right thread..but just to share that i am specialise in maids. I have my own agency and have Myanmar/Filipino/Indonesian/India maids. I have more than 8 years experience in this trade and i do home service as well. Should anyone is keen on the charges and maids profile, can pm me your requirements,contact number & email address.
happy.gif
 
Hi all

Just 2 share some info here.
Early this year, I was in a hurry to get a maid to look after my kids and I went to a few agencies hunting for one. As I need one helper urgently and could not wait for a new maid from Philippines, I decided to go for transfers. At that time, I realized that most of the agencies do not have transfer maids available till I came across one in Lucky Plaza - Universal, they have another branch in Marine Parade). So I got one from them. (Now then I know why this agency has many transfer maids).

This maid worked for me for about half a year and she suddenly told me that she wanted to be transferred just because she did some mistakes and I reprimanded her. So, I let her go and after that, I realized that this agency does not collect from the maids who are seeking for transfers, any transfers fee. All the maid need to pay is S$100 to be member and the agency will get them new employers and guarantee to get them an employer as and when the maids go back to them. They even increase their salary quite a lot when they are recommended to customers looking for transfer maids.

The agency on the other hand, collected from the employers, an agency fee of S$900 ( excl ins and other charges) with a short period of 3 months for any replacement (whereas other agencies give a 6 mths-1 yr free replacement).

I feel that this is in a way encouraging the maids to keep requesting for a transfer as they do not need to pay any agency fee and able to get another job with higher pay. And it is unfair to the employers as they have to come out quite alot to the agency and the transfer maid won't stay with them for long, due to such temptation from the same agency.

My maid who requested for a transfer also worked for her previous employer for only half a year. So you can imagine, the maids there have a tendency of transferring since they are supported by their agent.
 
Hi kim,

Sad to hear that. Based on my experience the purpose of the placement fee is to prevent them from transfer. But some maids we will not penalise them on the placement fee if the fault is not them.. But still as a agency myself, i dun encourage my maid to ask for transfer.. I will advise an counsel them to understan the root of the problem. Coz sometime they have personal problem themself..

Hope you get a good replacememt maid Kim
happy.gif
 
Actually, what is stopping employers from terminating the work permit and sending them back to their own country if they had finished their loan?
This is so as to discourage them from anyhow transferring. If the maid is generally ok but wants a transfer, so be it. But if a maid is bad, why transfer her when she knows that with each transfer, she earns more, demand more, has receding attitude
 
To Ms Kim,

I cannot help but mention this, hasn't the situation been reversed lately? Now, maids pay lesser than employers. Shouldn't this be the way all these while? For so many years, employers enjoyed low agency fees, as a result, such employers can enjoy changing maids like changing clothes, with very little thought and concern for the poor maid who had to pay a transfer fee and adapt with a new family all over again. So now, it's the maids' turn. But of course, who would like to change employers every now and then? If they do so too frequently, their employment history will be tarnished, do you think for 1 second that the next employer will be silly enough to hire her? And better still, pay her more salary? Of course, the maid has to at least finish her 2 years contract before justifying an increased in salary.

Everyone deserves an increased in salary for their hardwork, I am sure you would to if you did put in the hardwork into your job. So just like the maids, they deserved it too if they did work hard. Everyone wants a better life!

And by the way, when employers do change maids frequently, it's sad that MOM doesn't release the employer's employment history of maids. So it's been very 1-sided all these while and I do hope MOM do make available such information soon, so that agencies like ourselves, can decide if we wish to do a particular customer's business even with poor employment history of changing too many maids in a short period of time.
 
To Fang,

Your attitude towards maids is the very reason why any maid that does or had worked with you, wouldn't last!

Can you not think that the maid is here in Singapore simply to make a living? Why do you have to send back the maid when they finished their loan? It simply doesn't make any sense.

If you had to pay to secure a job, and your boss sacked you just when you finished your loan, denied you an opportunity to transfer to another company just cause you made some silly mistakes, how would you feel?

I think it's about time employers like yourself wake up! We are living in a modern day society! We do not have to be barbaric and let's be more civilised in handling all matters. Life as it is nowadays is difficult for everyone, so let's not be selfish and be more understanding towards others.

Maids are here to make an honest living, so please do not deny them their rice bowl by sending them back to their own country for no good reasons and simply for your own pleasure!
 
Hi Fang
I agreed with you! Unless the maid is ok and her reasons for transferring is valid, then i'll allow her to transfer. Otherwise i won't. I have a ex-maid who claimed that she can't work cos her hands shiver at times but she can pluck her eyebrown few times a week you know...

Hi Universalsg
Not all maids will appreciate being given a chance to work here ok. I used to have 1 maid at home but seeing her can't complete her work at times so i get another maid in to share the work, but they don't appreciate it. They ended up chit chatting and shortcut the work here and there
sad.gif

Some ex sin maids during phone interview will say they know this and that, but when they're here, they know nuts.. hv to teach from top to toe agian. 做工一条虫, bring them go outing 一条龙. I think your maids should be quite high quality which is why you got confidence with them.
 
To andver:

Let's just say that our helpers are very experienced, worked many years with their latest employer and are currently now on transfer. But of course, that doesn't automatically guarantee a success as the working conditions and expectations may differ from your household and her previous. But of course, with a longer working experience, the maid should be better equipped with the skills and knowledge to do her new job well.

Employment history can definitely be proven as we can verify it with MOM. Unlike those who claim to work in their own country for several years or even abroad, no documentation proof can justify their working experience as such.

The good thing about hiring a transfer maid is you're able to interview them in person, observe their body language, expressions, etc... during the interview. Unlike phone interview, you are unable to do so. Who knows, the person you were talking to could be someone else and not the maid you thought you were supposed to interview.

If a maid's bad behaviour, habits, attitude and etc... were made known to us by her latest employer or anyone who could justify their judgement on that particular maid, then we would most definitely not accept her as our candidate and will not present her to our clients. Such maids will only pose problems which our clients and our agency will want to avoid, so it's better we don't accept them in the first place.

The way we choose to operate is very much different from many other agencies, which is probably why we are very successful and highly recommended by maids to maids to seek our agency for transfer.

Lastly, when a maid does something unwarranted which will lead her to getting sack, I think she definitely deserves it. Like ourselves, if we go to work and use the handphone all day long, and we eventually got sack, I think we deserve it. Anyway, maids are human and bound to make mistakes as we are all not perfect. Not forgetting, sometimes maids can be quite naive and easily influenced. So alot of factors come into play which will make a maid's performance deteriorate and not improve over time. For the money we pay them and the convenience we seek from them, I think it's a give and take situation. At the end of the day, you can always choose not to hire a maid and burden yourself with mundane household chores when quality time could have been spent with your loved ones.
 
Hi Universalsg
I know every household got their own practise and expectations but i'm not talking abt this. An ex-sin experienced maid should at least know the various kinds of vegetables like chye sim, spinach, shanghai green, french bean and etc rite? My ex-sin experienced maid doesn't know when i brought her to supermarket to shop for groceries. Can't even cook a simple vegetable dish.

Ya its a give and take situation. The maids came all the way here to work cos they need the money. We hired them cos we need their help but why can't they just do their work properly and give the employer less problems? We don't spend our money to buy problems from them you know.

Frankly speaking, i would go to a agency recommended by employers to employers rather than maids to maids.
 
To andver:

I think you're not getting the point. When a maid recommends an agency to her fellow maid friend, obviously the main reason is because that maid has found a fantastic employer from us. Same thing goes for the employer whom found a fantastic maid from us, will also highly recommend their friends to us to hire our maids. It's this simple success forumla which we repeat time and time again that allows us to be in business for the past 25 years and many more years to come!

Do you not realise that majority of the maids, do not wish to go back to their old/existing agency simply because these maids know that those agents simply push them around and employers from that kind of agencies are no different?

Basically, we allow our maids to choose their ideal employer as we would allow employers to choose their ideal maid. Most agencies simply "force" their maids to accept any offer that comes along and will not even have the decency to let the new employer know that the maid had no intention to work for them in the first place but was "forced". And this is the very first sign of cracks appearing in the employer-maid relationship. It may just go away but mostly, it will deteriorate the relationship overtime.

IF your perception is, you're paying money to buy their problem, then I think you need to rethink hiring a maid in the first place.

Like any company, no company wants to hire a "snake eating" employee simply because it's a waste of the company's time and money. But does it mean that the company stops hiring altogether cause such scenarios do occur all the time?

Like I said, luck does play a huge factor. The success of a company depends very much on their pool of quality employees, having the same vision to see that the company does well. Managers in the company's role is to manage and make sure new employees see this vision clearly.

So perhaps as an employer, like the manager of a company, one must be able to guide, manage and enlighten the naive maid to think for her better future. Remember, the maid don't earn money by doing silly things, she will only jeopardise her opportunity of making a living.

Lastly, when you said that your ex-sin doesn't even know the different kind of vegetables. 2 possible reasons for that. First reason, her duty in her previous job, doesn't require her to do vegetable shopping, so she simply cooks whatever is thrown at her. Second reason, she is obviously doing it on purpose for whatever reason. Again, whatever the reason... she isn't helping herself, and I can more or less guess that she either lost her job already or will soon lose her job if cooking is a main priority of your household.
 
Hi Universalsg
Regret to tell you that my ex-sin maid does cooking and groceries shopping in the previous household. You're wrong.. she's still working with me as her main priority is not cooking. Anyway, to conclude, i believed that most agencies are not very honest when they sell their maids to their clients. I have heard and seen too much of it. I will be very interested to get a maid from your agency in the future and may i know which branch are you located?
 
Parkway Centre #10-03

Like I said, if cooking is not her main priority, then her strength may lie elsewhere. So I am not surprised you close one eye on her inefficiency in cooking and groceries shopping.

Most agencies are not very honest, yes I agree. That is because these maids that arrive in Singapore has huge "loan" to pay off. If the maid having worked for 1 month only and is being returned to the agency, and if that agency chooses to be too transparent and tell the absolute truth on the maid's inefficiency or bad attitude to the next potential employer, do you think she will get another employer?

If she doesn't get another employer, then the agency loses money as the maid will return to her country of origin without paying off her "loan" to the agency. So it's absolutely true, the agency has no choice but to tell white lies in order to get a new employer for the maid who is being returned after only 1 month of employment and it is absolutely necessary for them to do so to ensure their survival in this business.

That's why the maid's "loan" must not be too high. 2 months is just nice. But then again, employers must be willing to pay a higher agency fee.

Remember how employers who took maids in the 80s and early 90s always say that maids back then were alot better, more hardworking, etc? Did it occur to you that those maids then could be alot more motivated to do well in their job as they can start earning money sooner rather than later? And as mentioned earlier, agency fee was alot higher back then, easily between $1800 to $2500.

Picture this, if you and I just graduated and are into our first job, we are of course very excited to be able to finally earn our first pay cheque, but could you imagine if it will take us 11 months later to finally see our hard work pay off? This is precisely what's happening to the poor Indonesian maids at present who have no choice but to accept such a huge burden as most employers would rather pay a low agency fee. So we can't really blame them for "eating snake" and not putting in their best simply because they have to wait a long long time before they ever start to earn the real money! And for this reason also, most of them would rather go to our neighbouring countries, hence shortage in the making.
 
Please avoid patronize Express Maid Agency in Bukit Timah Shopping Centre. The maids quality are very bad and worst the staff, Ivy Ong is not responsible and very unprofessional. I have wasted almost 1k for using her service less than two months.
 
Hi,
I tried the so called low maid loan high agency fee type of agency, end result still the same, maid mismatch and lies.
the 1st maid I had from the agency, agree to whatever I asked her there, but after 2 month her loan finish, she start asking for stay out late, using religion as excuses. When I reminded her what she had promised, she asked to go back to the agency. When I called up the agent, he said 'oh that maid hah, so troublesome' Meaning he knew she has trouble staying on, I am her 3rd within 6 mth.
The next maid came, after the 3rd mth ask to go back to agency, cos she never wanted to care for kids. She said she had told the agent during her interview that she dont want to care for kids, so it freaks her out when she arrived at my place seeing 2 kids. She said her friend who loves kids got sent to other household doing housework instead. Here they might seems choosy, but I believe in matching what they like to do rather than getting them do it without the passion. In the end its me to finally made her change her mind and stayed with me. And from the same agency, my sil got a maid who couldnt answer yes or no when you ask her anything, she just stare back at you, even after 3 mths, she still as blur as day 1. She gave up and go to another agency.

From my recent searching for maids again, I even saw bio-data of a maid from A agency (which charges $488) being shared with B agency (which charges $188). If i wanted the maid, it will be either I take from A higher agency fee or B lower agency fee. But of course terms and condition is different for each agency.
To me high or low agency fee, it still back to your luck at getting a good maid. Just make sure not to go to those agencies that had demerit points or under surveillance in MOM website.
And do some research on the net abt the agency,
 
and for maid recommend maid agency, mainly bcos for every successful transaction, the maid who recommend will get commission. Thats what happened to my current maid, she got persuaded to go to a agency and sit there to wait for potential employer, when she was just 6 mths with me. But she back out from it, as she has fear of having not so nice employer which she had heard from her friends. Plus that potential employer is a expat which she worried abt her poor command of english. After she back out, she and her friend fell out.
 
Recently I have used 21st century located at Katong . Of the agencies I ever engaged I am pleased with this one, the difference : the salesperson give me her HP number so that I can contact her anytime.. .herself was also staying put in the fdw boarding house. She have also selected the biodata suitable for my requirements. Find her very experience with many year experience in this field. Look for Yohana of 21st century, think she is very good n sincere, Now, I'm waiting for my new fdw to arrive from this agency. Let'a c how it b goes.
 
I would never again go to Dynamic Employment at Peninsula Plaza. And I will never again hire maids from Myanmar. Dynamic got us a Myanmar maid. The agency is run by a single Myanmar woman who was so sweet - but it was only till we pay the 6-month loan and the agency fee.

This maid was not great but OK but she wanted to leave within 4 months. The agency simply dragged their feet getting us a replacement maid. They refused to give us biodatas. However, the Myanmar maid we returned to the agency, they got her a new employer within days.

I have grown sick of Myanmar maids. They eat A LOT, I mean really a lot, like manual labourers who carry heavy sacks the whole day and need to eat a mountain of rice for their energy needs. We are a Budhist family, the Myanmar maid was a Christian convert. She said she wants to work with a Christian family. The agency disclosed that they did not charge the maid any transfer fee! From their treatment of Myanmar maids, I can see they virtually worship their maids but are rude to employers.

Many of my friends, even taxi drivers all say Myanmar maids are no no.

Going through many websites of various maid agencies, I found that Myanmar maids are demanding at least $450 and 2 days off - even though they speak little English. These so-called "experienced" Myanmar maids are just inefficient unmotivated women who were sent back and they demand higher pay. At least, when Filipino maids ask for $450, they are justified as they speak English.

Anyway, I saw from MoM's webpage (http://www.mom.gov.sg/eadirectory/pages/Search.aspx) that Dynamic has the rare honor of 3 demerit points.

I repeat - I will never ever hire Myanmar maids, nor will I patronise Dynamic Employment.

My previous maid, from Philipines, was from Apex HR (at Balestier). They had very good service. Even called me to check if I received the biodata they emailed to me. I think I will go back to them. But my only worry is if the next Filipino maid will want to leave within weeks of joining us.
 
It is sad to see many maid agencies which are just out to earn a quick buck! My experience is similar as Nanyang Girl.

So, beware of this agency Union United Employment Pte Ltd (Lic No. 10C4248) at Katong Shopping Centre.

Totally irresponsible and really terrible! Suspect that they are in cahoots with the FDW so they can earn more $ for replacements!
 
Hi cutephone

My fren was abt to get a fili maid from united home maid agency at Elias mall. Is it the same one you used?

Please let me know urgently.
 
Yes! Its in Elias mall.. It's better to go to other agency, since Elias mall have quite a few maid agency. If not it will be like forever to get a maid.. unless you rush them again and again.
 



Back
Top