maids

[mallikak]

hi i needed 2 know whether u get part time maids 2 cum everyday for bout 2 to 3 hrs and how much does it cost or if u have a maid bal in india who is willing 2 cum here wht is the procedure and the total cost of it

[chixchix]

you can get a part timer ..like for a few hours a week..once or twice a week..rates start from $10- $12 an hour..of cos those who are more experienced and if your house is bigger,,,would demand a higher rate but its better than going thru an agency ...if you need anyone ,,let me know ..i have someone looking for such part time positions.

[sundaymorningstaple]

chixchix,

I hope you are referring to local Singaporean with regard to the part-time employment.

As I am sure you are aware, it is illegal for a Work Permit holding Domestic Helper to moonlight here in Singapore. I would hope you are not dispensing information on this website that is in contradiction of local law. If you are, I would have to ask you to please remove the post. Otherwise, I've no problem with the post.

Thanks

[chixchix]

Ohh please SMS ,, I am a true blue Singaporean and being educated I know of all this rules... trust me I wouldnt want to get into such messes.. My dealings are all Singaporean locals.

[sundaymorningstaple]

chixchix,

If you read the Beauty thread (which I know you do), there are a lot of true blue Singaporeans who dispense not so good advice to other posters. As you know, there is a lot of what you are talking about going on in this country. So therefore, I had to ask. Especially as the OP was talking about a maid from India. I even prefaced it with "As I am sure you are aware" but because of the fact that not all posters are aware, I just had to make sure. It will also forestall any other posters who might try to reply with not so good intentions.

sms

[laila]

hey i wud also like to get a part-time maid how do i go about , just moved in here wud like an indian and someone that cooks! can u pm me if u got any handy info

[kirstyL]

You would need to apply for a work permit through the ministry of manpower. Pay a levy of roughly 295 per month and salary around 300 per month. You also must provide accomodation and all basic needs for the maid. As well as paying for them to come to singapore. Insuarance also needs to be gotten and once the maid arrives you must get a medical examination done. Then every six months u do another one.

[dl_empsvc]

hi i needed 2 know whether u get part time maids 2 cum everyday for bout 2 to 3 hrs and how much does it cost or if u have a maid bal in india who is willing 2 cum here wht is the procedure and the total cost of it

Hi,

It is advisable to get your own maid from India to join your family here as I believe your family members are already familiar with her. However, if she has not worked in Singapore before, she has to enrol for the English Test in order to sit for Safety Awareness Course... And she must pass the English Test which is the one of the minimum requirement by the Ministry of Manpower. And before all the above said takes place, applying the Work Permit for your Foreign Domestic Worker is the first thing to do.

[mallikak]

hey thanx for the info is it that i need to make a payment for a refundable deposit for avout 5000$ back in india for sum damn insurance.too. and aware of any agencies inm mumbai and sing who wud do the paper work for u.

please help

[achauhan]

Hi, there!

We are a family moving from Africa to Singapore in July07. Can anyone recommend a good maid agency that they have personally used?
I will be looking for a full time maid. Apparently there is a choice between Indian, Indonesian and Philipino maids. Some people say it boils down to Indonesians and Philipinos in terms of efficiency. Can anyone give their views on this? Also, what questions should I be asking in the interview with the maid? What other things I should be alert about?

Will appreciate any comments on this one, please.

[rebeccawpl]

For first timers, it would be good if you have recommendations from your friends' reliable maids. I dun believe you should just get it from the agency, like what Linda/Missy shared, some maid/agencies are quite irresponsible/untruthful. I have my fare share of maid for the past 1 year, infact I have changed 4. All from Phillipines & the last one from Myanmar.

My first one(28 yrs old, married & University grad) was recommended by my friends maid, very good to my gals(that time was 10 months old & 2 yrs old). She's very thorough with my kids & could also discipline them. However she stayed with me for 7 months only coz she missed her own gals(4 yrs & 10 yrs). It was a tearful goodbye.

My 2nd maid (23 yrs old, single & University grad) got through an agent since can't get recommendation from friends. No choice, have to get her in very fast, did'nt even check thoroughly why she had to leave her previous employer(well according to the agent , she's allergic to the pet dogs). I later found out that we were her 3rd employer !! She only stayed with her 2 employers for 2 months the most, she stayed with us almost 4 months before we finally gave up on her. She very chor lor. First week with us, she toppled over my daughters' pram, my baby was crushed between the pram & baby gold anklet broke into half (flew off). Yes very drama. I kena shocked ! Thereafter, slammed our babys' bedroom door against my 2nd daughters finger & a month later my elder daughter finger also kena squashed by the same door by her !! Not only that broke more than 10 items in my house & always say forget. Told agent to take her before I kill her !

Same agent replaced another one( 28 yrs old, single & university grad) for me within 2 weeks. Very efficient initially, told us she has no prior experience as maid. We believed, boy she must be very good housekeeper in Phillipines. At first always respond with "Yes Ma'am", 2 weeks later she seem to stop to respond to our calls for assistance whenever we are at home. We figured she must be home-sick or mind-just-not-there. We sat with her , counsel her & concluded that it's a phase she's going through. Then the BIG drama started. She started to read newspaper in front of my parents-in-law(they visit my gals when I'm out for work, just to be sure they r ok with the new maid), as if no more work to do in the house & my PIL presence are transparent. Another occassion, she didn't even bother to ask me eat after she cooked lunch one Saturday afternoon, my plate was there on the dining but empty! Then I thought, maybe she damn hungry & forgot her manners, so I reminded her that even if she is my sister she better remember her manners in my home. The finale came when I decided to test if her hearing is ok(she claims she can't hear me/hubby call her when we need her assistance with the kids e.g. make milk, bring stuff when we are dressing our kids after a baby bath etc). Saw her walked into my childrens room(mine & kids bedroom doors are side by side), I decided to call for her at the top of my voice outside my bedroom door, guess what? No response ! I walked into my childrens' rooms & stood behind her to call her, she jumped! She didn't know that I know she's in my kids room & thought could act deaf so that no need to respond to my calling. Waaahhhh...attitude already after 2 weeks. The last straw came when she slammed the gate against my daughers' finger(I was outside the house getting ready to go to work) & refused to respond to open the gate when my gal was screaming inside the house in pain ! Told the agent to pick her immediately that night. Agent came, claimed that since the maid had no prior experience, she may not have understood that there are some protocol to follow (e.g. no reading newspaper infront of ma'am's guests, no eating without telling ma'am that the food is ready(btw we always have our maid eat togather with us), respond to loud callings from ma'am/sir for help(mind u , our house is only a 5 room HDB, I know some maids could be summoned from the first floor to the 3 floor ). Agent said give her chance la. I said difficult la, as after reprimanding her about all these issues then my kids will be at risk if she not happy with me. So togather with agent, watched her pack her stuff. Agent told me to check her bags, at first I hesitated(I never check my maids belongings, I thought it's a very intrusive procedure which says "I don't trust you")but then as the agent insist, I relented. Guess what we found? An old passport indicating that she has worked in Taiwan as a maid before in 2001! So she was just trying her luck pushing my limits ! So, in short she had lied about her job experience, lied that she not aware that maid shouldn't read newspaper infront of guests, maid should have not have selected hearing(hmmm...come to think of it , she passed the medical test wat...so should have no hearing problem...so we concluded that it's an attitude problem). On the eleventh hour, the agent still persuade me to keep her, see...the agent also very smart...try to get the customer keep the faulty product Off they went !!

Then I decided to change agent. This time round, I roped in my PIL to help to select maid as I figured I may have vry bad judgements. We went maid shopping at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, full of maid agencies there. I have heard Myanmar maids are very dilligent & dun give attitude probs, so we set off to look for one. Found this agency, Lee Gardens. They highlighly recommended this Myanmar maid(her name Ma Thek Thek), claimed that the previous employer couldn't keep her as she understands very little English and no patience to teach her. So all four(myself, hubby & PIL) eyes & brains interviewed her. We figured, we'll since she's needed to do house work only, I just need to show her in practical rather than theory . I also roped in my sister to help train her as my sis has just came home from East Timor teaching English for a year to the locals who speak nothing but Portugese. My sister seems to be the best candidate to handle & train my speak-little-English maid. All seems perfect & set to go. First thing, we have a Myanmar-to-English & vice versa dictionary plus simple English sentences(translated to Myanmar language also) for maids-day-to-day-use kinda reference.

First day, she already woke up 2 hrs late(I gave her an alarm clock leow), I said neber mind la , maybe the agent really trashed her & dun give her enough sleep at the agency.

Second day, she decided to take an afternoon nap while my sister is helping to train her in my home !! So we explained to her, afternoon nap is no-no as she has to take care of 2 babies, even if no babies who says she is paid for afternoon naps !!

First week, didn't go very well. So , my sis decided then , maybe it's better to train her in my sisters' apartment which is much smaller and have less furnitures/decors. OK, we packed the kids & maid to my sis apartment. Daily report from my sis: if no instructions given from my sis, the maid would not move. Ok, then we decided that maybe we should let the maid know that the very obvious things have to be auto-done like unfold clothes have to be folded, wrinkled clothes have to be ironed, soil baby clothes must be washed, must cook for baby when the clock shows 10am & 5pm. Hmm...the trainning was intensive as my sis has only 1 week to spare.

By the 3rd week, one morning the maid said she wants to go back to the agency(means she throw in the towel). I figured if she gave up on herself, no point keeping her. Gave her the agents' number to make the request to the agency herself before I left for work. So since this is initiated by the maid, I thought it's best the agent hears it from her while I separately informed the agent of her intention. The agency assured me that they would persuade the maid to stay on as we have not abused her/denied her food etc . (Just a note : there is clause in the agents contract that if the employer were to return the maid, the employer have to pay $10 lodging for the maid for 21 days/until she finds a new employer whichever is less plus the government levy of $7 each day ).

By noon, I received a frantic call from my sis that the maid has hide herself in the toilet for more than 45 min & not reponding when my sis calls for her. I then called the agency to ask for help but they said there's not much they could do . Ok.... I thought I will deal with the agent once this drama is over. One thing for sure, I do not want my babies to witness a dead-maid in my sis home. The next best thing to do is to get the Civil Defence to "extract" the maid out of the toilet.

Quickly took an urgent leave, cancel all my afternoon meetings & rushed to my sis place. On my way while figuring out the plan, I received a call from the agency that the neighbourhood police from my sis place called. Apparently...the maid ran away & asked the police to call the agent to pick her!! She used the closed toilet(sliding door) as a decoy !! You bet I was damn mad at this point !!

I reached the police station, the police was bewildered what the maid wants(she speaks little English remember ?). I was bewildered why she had to resort to this measure. No choice, I can't risk taking her back as she may attempt something more drastic(worse case attempt suicide or something). Took her straight back to the agency, demanded my monies back !! Till date I haven't got my $$, the agent whom I dealt with resigned & left the case to her act-blur collegues. I will be going down to their agency next week to scream at them to return my monies(about $2,100 !!). The agency still had the cheek to ask me to send the maid's lugage to the agency !! I would rather donate it to the karang guni man after all the trouble she created !!


For 2 weeks, I did nothing about my no-maid situation. I was traumatised , couldn't image handle another maid from hell(minus the first one). Finally we husband stepped in asked a friend to recommend another agent. We asked for a reliable one of course. Some kind soul did. We made the contact with the new agent. She came personally to our home with a maid in tow. Obviously, this maid is a transfer case. These agents know we are desperate, normally they would try to "sell" off their returned goods at great speed else the maid would be repartriated after 21 days. She even throw in the "priviledge", try the maid out for 2 days. I was gullible , I tried her out. I quickly realised that what the agent did was wrong in the eyes of law as the maid is still under her previous employers' custody, if anything went wrong with the maid her previous employer would get into trouble !! Geeeezzz...these unscrupulous agents !! Got ride of the maid & the agent !!

I did nothing for the next 1 month to regain my courage . This time round got another friend to recommend another agent. She came with a bunch of biodatas, I said I would only take in recommendations (i.e recommended by maids working in Singapore currently). I figured better get recommendation then blindly get someone whom no one knows what are their background(could be thief, prostitue, serial killer on the run etc).
Now, I'm waiting for my 5th maid to arrive..wish me luck.

In summary, based on my experience, my advice :

(1) Get recommendations for agents
(2) No point reading bio datas, they are standard templates, get maids to recommend their own sister or close family member . No point aunt or cousin, as for Phillipines, everyone is an aunt & cousin.
(3) If you are getting Phillipinas, get a University graduate at least. No point getting a high school leaver, you won't be able to understand what they are saying. The work is hard enough, you woudn't want to deal with language & thinking problem. There are lots of graduate without jobs so why settle for less.
(4)Read your contract carefully, never assume that you won't have to change maid, the $10/day for lodging thing makes me angry after the maid played me out
(5) No point getting trasfer maid no matter how desperate you are. They are transferred because they have created problem for others, don't believe the reasons the agent give as they have to say something to their own advantage right ?
(6) Agents are business people, all they want is to sell their goods. You are responsible at the end whether to accept /reject goods.
(7) Forget about picking those maid who goes "Yes ma'am" all the way when you interview them, most of the time they didn't understand what you are saying/asking therefore they mask it off with a "Yes ma'am" or mostly because they need to be employed by ANYONE. Once you get these "Yes ma'am" it would soon become "Didn't hear your ma'am/Dun understand Ma'am/Forgot Ma'am"
(8)Dun bother giving your maid a mop, soon all your chairs/funitures will be scratched/chipped. My furnitures looked 10 yrs older since we had maids. They are trained to hand mop anyway. Intially I bought a lot of these labor-saving devices for my maids, soon enough I realise that they could even break my steel-handle mop into half !! Amazing I dunno how they do it , I thought I buy steel to last longer than their wooden compatriots!! My soft Avent baby bottle brush which I had used for the past 3 years was condemned in just 1 week when my 2nd maid came. My new broom condemned within 3 weeks, they use mighty strenght!
(9) Dun buy expensive washing machine/dryer/vacumm cleaner, within 3 months they would be gone. Just get something that would last only 2 yrs
(10)Wash your own fragile clothes, my 2nd maid managed to create 2 big holes(one each on each cup) in my new Victoria Secret lace bra. I showed my collegue , they dunno whether to laugh or shocked with amazement.
(11) Insist that the maid wash your babies' bottom whenever they poo-poo, they find it very conveniently wrap them up in the no-leak diapers WHOLE day . In their culture, they dun have "red backside"/nappy rash syndrome, as their kids backside is always aired (without diapers).
(12)They only shower once a day in their country, insist that they do that twice as they handle your babies & house chores at the same time. Some even go to bed without washing their sweaty sculpt, my maids did , they claim too late to wash afterwards get headache, to me they are too dead tired to wash
(13) It is important not to cook too much food, they dun eat overnight dishes as in their country they can't afford a fridge. So not in their culture to eat "old" food. Mostly they would just throw away your extras if you don't remember to ask them to keep. Some keep in the fridge for you but continue cooking new dishes as they find it repulsive to eat "old" food
(14) Dun insist that your maid eat your expensive abalone/cod fish or yong-tau-foo/fish cake, they dun like these fishy smelly food. Your food will go to waste, they like vegetables mostly.

If you need more advice, let me know. I have more things to share

[chixchix]

wow what a long post hehehee

[lsac0902]

wow! what a nightmare! Can you tell us the name of your agent so we don't go through it.

[MTdenali]

These are the feeling we got from our recent past 1 year experiences which we also changed 4 maids with two agencies; 1st agency run by Singaporeans 2nd agency operated and owned by Philipinas.

Before the past 1 year of bad experiences, we had "rare" maid which I call her our nanny, housekeeper, friend and not a maid. She worked for us for 6 years and had to return to Philipines to look after her niece. She would remember each of our birthdays and SMS or call us on New Year, Chinese New Year, X'mas to keep in touch and always mannerful.

With such good experience with Philipines English speaking FDW (foreign domestic worker as termed by MOM), we naturally look for the good nature, fun-loving maids from Philipines.

Here comes the start of Maids from Hell part 2;

1st agency - 1st maid (mid-age, university ed) willing worker good manners no need to teach them to greet and with a ready smile which makes you day when you return home from work. However, she is not cut for housework. She will work from earlier morning until late 1am-2am still ironing clothing, I had to asked her many times to stop and have to take the iron away to ensure she have enough sleep. She just tries too hard to do housework. Cannot lor, else MOM will point that I am guility of bullying them (worst some people NGOs, perhaps out of good intent) will accuse us of ill-treament. She came with medical problem not report in their medical report; she had a blood condition where she bruises easily and had to take her own medicine. With this kind of combination, I had sleepless nights ensuring she goes to bed early. We had to let her go else, if so fails ill (because of her hardworking attitude) and if it get to those NGOs and MOM, we will be accuse of bullying especially where she brusies easily. Too bad. We wish her luck.
2nd maid from same agent - my family of two kids my wife and I at night after work, went to agent house to pick her after she stayed there while waiting to clear medical report and documentation. She step into our home look around and we already sense her jam dropped, true enough, next morning our jaw dropped, she sat in the kitchen, said she don't like bread for breakfast (so we offered noodles etc), she like coffee which we don't drink them and offered healthy Milo which she refuses. Next few hours came the Nuclear Bomb, Sir, I cannot work for you! All the following hours of whys and talking she just sat there refused to do housework and wanted "mama the agent" to take her back. The truth came was because our house is and E-flat and while at the agent's house was a 4-room HDB with a couple + 1 small child.
So, again left with urgent need to look for another, so went for the internet after recommended agencies and friends result nil. Came 2nd agent which is accredited type and operated and owned by Philipinas, so we thought maybe their have better choice; "ka ke nan, bak si bo sian kan" Teochew says "own people fight never mind lah". Own kind should be able to talk better hor. 3rd maid - aged 27 still mother's pet, every decision she had her mother working 10 years here as maid made for her. Before, the 6 months agreement of no off-days, her mother came to my front door with her friends speaking loudly demanded that legally in Singapore law we had to give every month day off (what a threat and at my front door and accusing us in our neighbours presence - what a smart move)! She broke two shower heads and 1 glass object which was a gift for our wedding and 1 creamic object bought from Australia during our honeymooon. Boy, if my kids were not looking at me fuming at her , she would had a good mouthful of my "best 2nd language" which my teacher would not be proud of. .
So after we "tahan" her and her mummy for 6 more months, she wanted a transfer and her mother arrange for her to work the mother's employer's friend! She demands I let her go immediately as she found a new empolyer. How can lah! Leave me without a maid, so no is no, she will have to wait till current agent gets me one.
Again in time of emergency, the weakness sets in, we took a replacment and telephone interview our 4th maid whose biodata claims single but we found out she is married with 2 kids and a drunk husband when she arrived. (If we knew, this is a bad combination which spells trouble and true enough). For the last 7 months until 13 June 2007, she gave us trouble upon trouble every 3-4 weeks. She wanted to go off (within 6 months when the contract permits off only after 6months) because it was her birthday and her sisters telephone us to let her go. So we were kind and she went coming back late from agreed time to return.Talk to her (just talk no raising voice, no black face from employer) next day she refused to work and agent had to tagalore with her. Came 2007 mother's day it was her 1st offical off day, we reminded her time to return as we wanted to go out for mother's day evening, we waited and our evening spoiled - she was late and came with sister trailing "sorry sir ...sorry sir" what the point....we were late for dinner on mother's day. 2nd off day on 10 Jun 2007, she this time promised to return half hour earlier from appointed time. Again, she was late even we mobile phone her sister, so we told them, sorry we go for dinner and she just have to wait at our door until we return (within half hour). Rightfully as empolyer we can lecture her on such irresponsilble behaviour, which we again just talk explaining the need to be on time. The next morning Monday, I cannot go to work had to take urgent leave from by unhappy boss to settle my maid who refuse to work - sit in attitude and demand she cannot work for us immediately and wanted a transfer. Now transfer is not a problem for such bad attitude worker, but refuse to continue to work while waiting for transfer is a no no. She just pack her bags and demand she returns to agent and we pay for $12 per day wow . This we refuse, either she pays her own $12 and get out of my house (which I still pay levy), when at the agent office, she claims she have not money to pay and refuse to work while waiting for tansfer. As luck changes, she changed her mind to return home...do you know why? Yes, she had always been trouble by her own family problem with a drunk husband she hate/love affair and kids.
Man, we spend the night and early morning next e-cancellation and e-air ticket which we had to pay because the contract states termination employer pays for airfare (again never forgets to read it and DEMAND, DEMAND AND DEMAND terms to be in your favour). Fair, if we terminate we pay but this agency word it that empolyer pays even maid terminate at her will!!!!! I cannot say the name of the agency but it is not small (1 office in "Little Philippines" area downtown and another in the West of....).

Since I likely have make many reader sleeping ...so sorry but must share
this experience for the benefits of others.

Now can someone in this community know what are the mandatory terms (by MOM) that MUST be in the contract so that as empolyer we play with the law and regulations settle by MOM. And is it contactually accepted by Singapore law to also add other terms and conditions to the contract signed by Maid, Empolyer and agent which should be fair to Maid, protects Empolyer and Benefits business like agent.

What about Myanmar nationals? I have heard first hand experiences from empolyer good and bad experiences.

Please can some kind souls out there help us too, we need urgent for good recommendations. By word of mouth seems to be more reliable.

School reopens in 1 week's time. I begin to hate these irresponsible maids, even the kindness my family shower on the last maid even she had her problems. I cannot help but feel empolyers are not protected ENOUGH....as NGOs paints picture that maids in Singapore are unprotected poor souls here, but many are not so.

Hi Rebeccawpl it has been 2 weeks + have you found a good replacement? If yes, would you mind to share with me more good tips and where can I find a resaonable good maid ?
Cheers.