Singapore Expats

Hello everyone,

i am looking to hire a full-time maid. i am expecting my second child in a month and started to feel the meed for some help.

Can anyone could recommends on a good maid-agency? or a good maid you know that her employers are about to leave soon Singapore?

Any help would be welcome - i am new to this concept...

many thanks!

http://www.kaiwamaid.com/sgmp/index.asp

we have just found a lovely helper via this agency.

you could also look in the classifides secton of this website for a transfer maid (someone already working for a family who is looking for another employer). though the agency above also has transfer maids.

wow but the salaries are so high. Gosh!

True! i talked to some other agencies and for their experience maids they ask a much less salary than this agency.

We got ours through Averise Agency (www.averise.com.sg), 67381577. We have 2 kids as well and one was 6mths old at the time. She was in the Philippines but had good relevant working experience with kids in Singapore and Hong Kong.

However most agencies are the same; they will push to you who they have in their books at the time. You will need to take the time to interview all of them and trust your gut feeling. You will need at least 3 months to find the right one.

IMOE its less the agency and more the maid, meet them and talk to them, at the end of the day Agencies are just the middlemen and just want to get a maid off their books, you can look on line, check their "biodata" and then meet them if you want, some agencies are better than others, but if you want someone to look after your kids youll want a maid with more experience and not really a first time maid, the more you pay usually the better you get and with kids its worth it to get an experienced maid.

dear hamiltongirl,

Yes i would be more than interested in meeting your maid, if you say she is trustful and good.

please contact me: [email protected]

thanks a lot!

sorry she's been snapped up by another family. good luck with finding someone.

Hi,

Not sure if you are still looking, but I know of a maid who is available. She is 33 and has 8year experience in singapore. Speaks english well (as she was training to be a teacher previously). She is indonesian. She is currently home after just finishing her contract with the previous employer who want her back....but she wants a new employer if possible. Just so you know i am not being racist as I am married to a Malay, but apparently she is not wanting to work for another Malay family. She has a lot of experience looking after children as well and is very friendly. She is a very good friend of my current maid, they attended college together to become teachers and have know each other 15yrs. If you would like I can arrange for you to talk to her and if you like her she can let her agent know. Just drop me an email at [email protected]. If anyone else is interested you can also drop me an email.
Cheers, Kirsty

Hi, thought I just shared my experience of my current domestic helper.
(Bear with me, this is a long but good one )
We started our search in Jan and after numerous interviews in our house and getting the shortlisted helpers to have a orentation of our house and my 1 year old baby, we hired Joy on 1st Feb.

Joy was a wonderful helper right from the beginning. She was able to take instructions very well, she can cook, play with my 1 year old baby and her cleaning is something to marvel about. She can finish all her chores by 7pm and in bed by 8pm. I was overjoyed After 1 month of bliss, I started to plan my holidays and went back to part-time work.

That's when everything goes downhill, Joy approached me on 2nd March early one morning, and asked me for a pay increment and all sundays off (She currently has to work one sun a month). I was alittle surprised but thought she kind of deserve it as she was doing a good job and I don't really need her on sundays. After speaking to her agent from 121 Personnel, we gave in to Joy's requests. However 2 days later, she wanted to talk to me again. She said this time she wants off on all public holidays and more money to cover her food and transport allowances. And if I do not give in, she wants to terminate her employment. I was very surprised and seek advice from the agency.

The agent spoke to her and she refused to give in so there is nothing she can do. The agent told me I have 2 choices; either I send her back to phillipines at my own cost, or find a replacement (I have to pay the agency another $350/- to hire a new helper plus insurance, on top of the $498 that we have already paid initially.). Besides that, there is nothing the agency can do unless you pay again.

I am really disappointed as the helpers are free to take up the job offer and then back off on their words with no consequences even after 1 day. (they know that with 10yrs+ experience she can find work very easily and there is no way anybody can find out why she left her previous employment. And she told me her sundays are packed with interviews and constantly ask me for time off to go for interviews. If I disagree, doors will fly! ) However for the employer, not only having to fork out the extra money, it upset my plans and cause unnecessary stress on my family.

I guess this has been a learning experience for me: Expect the unexpected so you will not be disappointed. Anybody who any comments, I love to hear from you.

i think most agencies offer to replace the maid within the first few months for free. double check if you really aren't entitled to that.

still, you're in a tight spot. i would get rid of the maid if i were you. not only was she not keeping her part of the contract (i assume the days off and other allowances were specified in the contract?), but the fact that she's still going for interviews indicates that she is dissatisfied in your household. who knows what else she will ask for later on?

I am definitely getting rid of her. Her last day is on 17 March.
As for contract, I showed it to her and she said nobody follows it and she has the right to give me 14 days notice to terminiate her contract as of MOM rules. I find the contract a joke as these experienced helpers know how to get around it.

Yes we are in a tight spot and I felt so made use of. She has used this 1 month to look for another employer since her work permit was cancelled when we hired her. Not only I have to find another helper but I have to re-train the next help as well. So I thought I can share my unfortunate experience with everyone (Joy likes to look for Expat employer because she gets high pay and off days) and hope that no-one will fall into the same rut as I am in now!

I wish somehow we have a way or a system to weed out these helpers who are constantly shopping for empolyers at their current employer's expense.

I usually tend to get fresh maids for myself ..as I am afraid of all this. Currently, I just got my maid ..she's been with me for over 1 mth ,,and I am at home also... so lets see what happens.. but I find that Filipino maids are good but really cunning.

Experienced ones tend to know a lot of information too.

I found Desmond at SG Manpower (in Far East Shopping Centre) by accident. After going to the "preferred" expat agencies (with very slow results), I walked past his agency, which had several girls available for immediate interview. We really liked that there was a variety of helpers with different backgrounds and experiences.

He's not the most personable (not rude at all but if you want to be coddled and pay an enormous fee, go to the "expat" catered agencies). He was able to give us a lot of pointers which helped us out in selecting helpers that matched our requirements. After the interviews, we had wanted to mull over our decision but upon returning home, the maid we had wanted to make an offer on had already accepted another offer.

It turned out that a friend was leaving in 2 weeks and thus her helper became available. I was impressed by Desmond's knowledge (and inexpensive fees!) that I decided to bypass our friends' agency and used SG Manpower instead (and saved over $300 on transfer fees!!).

I would definitely recommend them, especially if you're new to the game like we were. I've linked to their website (which has profiles) but here is their number as well: 6235 6905

Best of luck!
Samantha

Samantha if you click on my link, it takes you to the same website! We dealt with Desmond too. He also gave us a bit of a talking to about the importance of treating maids fairly etc. Which I was quite impressed by.