Had the misfortune of changing 2 indonesian maids recently after my last indo maid left for home working with us 4 years. Had a christian maid from indo with experience and paid her $400 ( before these 17 blood suckers pushing for $460 ) instead of $360 , thought being generous will motivate her to work loyally. Instead she complained house too big ! ( How big can intermediate terrace be??? ) Her cries for transfer went on deaf years of the agent although she never once showed unhappiness with us, one fine sunday morning she disappeared without locking my door and went straight to Indo embassy to seek refuge. We lost some $150 but she denied stealing , Indo embassy staff very protective and unco-operative , refused to conduct body search although she claimed taxi driver never charged her for the fare there?
Despite explaining to embassy staff , they are simply not interested in assisting , all this while maid admitted no ill treatment , enough food , sleep and own big room too. Only reason is she is not happy with big house , only wish to have 3 room HDB employer, when asked if she will go back to our house since we paid more than $2600 for her "otang" , she just shook her head and embassy officer just accept that and told us what to do , she refused to work for you ! No reprimand or scolding for taking her job so lightly , as though she has a choice to chose her employer till satisfied .
What message is the embassy sending to this maid? Agent also cannot do anything except to advise that he cant help , suggested we select another maid and pay again for replacement. We have to cough out another $300 plus for bond and documentation ! As for the "Otang" , we cant get back until current maid finds another employer and meanwhile we have to pay for her logging , food and levy??? Isn't this ridiculous? Maid sacked us and we still have to pay for her expenses before another employer is found? This trick must be well known to all maids coming here as when I told my sad story to my friends , they had the same experience!
Meanwhile , we had our replacement after a week and before we could bring her back , we were made to pay up another $2600 for this new maid . Reason being , old maid still not transfered so we cant get "otang" until she finds new employer. Isn't the agency holding large sums of advance payment from employers? Assuming they bring in 30 maids a month , they will be holding on to $2600 x 30 maids' otang ! What if agent abscond? MOM must be aware of this practice and should protect employers. If for no apparent good reasons for maid to resign from job , why are they not penalised by embassy or MOM ? If every maid comes with same intention i.e, try out the job and if not happy just cry for transfer , then many employers got to suffer financial losses and inconvenience. Every change of maid requires time for training , adjustment , etc , we are all working to support the family and we cant afford the time for such errand maids who are toying with us.
MOM should ban transfer if there is no valid reason for maid to resign from employer who brought them in. Unless she can prove ill treatment , molest , no salary , aggressive environment, not enough sleep etc , they should not be entertained if they want a transfer to suit their convenience. I was told by my previous maid who worked with us 4 years that , they have been informed by their Indo agent that they can come here to try out job first , if it does not suit , just ask for transfer . So most of them already have in mind to work in a small flat.
When my replacement maid came , she soon exposed her greed and laziness. She will eat all the goodies from the fridge , including chocolates without asking for permission. we shop once a week from the wet market and was surprised that chicken drumsticks , big prawns , beef chunks can run out before the week is over. We bought enough for a week yet the maid's 3 meals a day can only last her 4 days ! To our horror , she admitted that she prepare 4 big prawns and 2 chicken drumsticks in curry for each meal , alternating with beef and fish . We bought 3-in1 coffee for her but after taking 2 sachets, she didnt like it and went for our english tea and nescafe. When the house is messy and uncleaned , she smiled and apologised that she feels tired during the day and takes nap ! She enjoys the comfort of our home alone during the day whilst we all work hard , yet she cannot deliver. That is probably the reason why Singaporeans are successful in their careers and can afford to employ maids , hard work pays ! If they are lazy and greedy , they will NEVER succeed in life.
I hope MOM will look into the experiences we had with maids and the agent , find a solution instead of allowing this to continue. Frustrations of some employers led to them taking the law into their own hands . Why are they abusive if they have a loyal and good maid? Nobody in his right frame of mind will turn abusive if all systems go well in the house.
lastly , even if there is an increse in salary for Indo maids as proposed by agents here and overseas , the increase will only benefit the agents . Not the maids , their "Otang" simply increases and the agents reap all the benefits. Before they should even talk about inrese in salary , agents should improve on their selection of maids and train them well with a positive mind of coming here to work and earn money for their poor family NOT to come for cosy jobs or free holiday . It's time for them to wake up and MOM to act on them , dont allow them to fleece the employers with sub-standard maids so that they can earn more from replacements.
Despite explaining to embassy staff , they are simply not interested in assisting , all this while maid admitted no ill treatment , enough food , sleep and own big room too. Only reason is she is not happy with big house , only wish to have 3 room HDB employer, when asked if she will go back to our house since we paid more than $2600 for her "otang" , she just shook her head and embassy officer just accept that and told us what to do , she refused to work for you ! No reprimand or scolding for taking her job so lightly , as though she has a choice to chose her employer till satisfied .
What message is the embassy sending to this maid? Agent also cannot do anything except to advise that he cant help , suggested we select another maid and pay again for replacement. We have to cough out another $300 plus for bond and documentation ! As for the "Otang" , we cant get back until current maid finds another employer and meanwhile we have to pay for her logging , food and levy??? Isn't this ridiculous? Maid sacked us and we still have to pay for her expenses before another employer is found? This trick must be well known to all maids coming here as when I told my sad story to my friends , they had the same experience!
Meanwhile , we had our replacement after a week and before we could bring her back , we were made to pay up another $2600 for this new maid . Reason being , old maid still not transfered so we cant get "otang" until she finds new employer. Isn't the agency holding large sums of advance payment from employers? Assuming they bring in 30 maids a month , they will be holding on to $2600 x 30 maids' otang ! What if agent abscond? MOM must be aware of this practice and should protect employers. If for no apparent good reasons for maid to resign from job , why are they not penalised by embassy or MOM ? If every maid comes with same intention i.e, try out the job and if not happy just cry for transfer , then many employers got to suffer financial losses and inconvenience. Every change of maid requires time for training , adjustment , etc , we are all working to support the family and we cant afford the time for such errand maids who are toying with us.
MOM should ban transfer if there is no valid reason for maid to resign from employer who brought them in. Unless she can prove ill treatment , molest , no salary , aggressive environment, not enough sleep etc , they should not be entertained if they want a transfer to suit their convenience. I was told by my previous maid who worked with us 4 years that , they have been informed by their Indo agent that they can come here to try out job first , if it does not suit , just ask for transfer . So most of them already have in mind to work in a small flat.
When my replacement maid came , she soon exposed her greed and laziness. She will eat all the goodies from the fridge , including chocolates without asking for permission. we shop once a week from the wet market and was surprised that chicken drumsticks , big prawns , beef chunks can run out before the week is over. We bought enough for a week yet the maid's 3 meals a day can only last her 4 days ! To our horror , she admitted that she prepare 4 big prawns and 2 chicken drumsticks in curry for each meal , alternating with beef and fish . We bought 3-in1 coffee for her but after taking 2 sachets, she didnt like it and went for our english tea and nescafe. When the house is messy and uncleaned , she smiled and apologised that she feels tired during the day and takes nap ! She enjoys the comfort of our home alone during the day whilst we all work hard , yet she cannot deliver. That is probably the reason why Singaporeans are successful in their careers and can afford to employ maids , hard work pays ! If they are lazy and greedy , they will NEVER succeed in life.
I hope MOM will look into the experiences we had with maids and the agent , find a solution instead of allowing this to continue. Frustrations of some employers led to them taking the law into their own hands . Why are they abusive if they have a loyal and good maid? Nobody in his right frame of mind will turn abusive if all systems go well in the house.
lastly , even if there is an increse in salary for Indo maids as proposed by agents here and overseas , the increase will only benefit the agents . Not the maids , their "Otang" simply increases and the agents reap all the benefits. Before they should even talk about inrese in salary , agents should improve on their selection of maids and train them well with a positive mind of coming here to work and earn money for their poor family NOT to come for cosy jobs or free holiday . It's time for them to wake up and MOM to act on them , dont allow them to fleece the employers with sub-standard maids so that they can earn more from replacements.
