All About Full-Time Maids

[DesertWind]

LOLMum:

DesertWind:

For reliable agency go to NATIONS.

Yo madam....you forgot to include 'I am not a staff, not the boss, no shares in this company' ......

I must confess they will give SGD50/= referral fee if you refer a customer to them and they get a maid from them. Please quote my name should you decide to follow my recommendation. :evil:

[DesertWind]

POA Teacher:

DesertWind:

For reliable agency go to NATIONS.

They are all the same.
All have some crappy maids, some good maids, some so-so maids.
All depends on your luck.

I mean they are pro-employers should you encounter any problems with your maid. So far our family has gotten 4 maids through them and the maids are quite good. We have not found the need to change any of these maids yet.

[DesertWind]

Hi Karl2,


Please be aware that wef 1 June 2012, the rules has changed. For Indonesian maids, the fees has been increased by the agency and new fees would be between SGD1200 to SGD2K. Why? Because new ruling that maids no longer need to bear so many months of loans to pay to their Indo. agency. Before, maid pays about 6-8 months of their pay to their Indonesian agency. So SG agency only charge for their services which for Nation is about SGD550 thereabout.

Under the new ruling, since maid will now only bear about 1/2 of the Indo. agency cost, the remaining half is being shoved to the employer. Therefore factor in SGD550 agency fees plus another roughly SGD1 to 1K of Indo. agency fee and you get the total of about SGD1.5K already. Yes, it is now very expensive for employer to get a maid!

[Angelight]

Yes, employing full time maids is going to get more and more costly. And that is no guarantee you will get a good maid. That’s why I don’t intend to get a new maid once my current one finishes her contract. I rather get a part-time help, don’t need to pay thru the nose, or be responsible for her welfare, or even see her ‘black face’ or bad attitude.


Of cos it also means I will have to do more house chores apart from taking care of my kid and cooking. But I think it’s worth it, rather than paying so much yet still be stressed by a FT maid.

[POA Teacher]

Me too, Angelight. Gonna go without one when current one goes home.

Only when the time comes when really really need one, will I subject myself to the stress of getting a new one.

[sad citizen]

yesterday I went to a small agency in Jurong East Central.

Was told $450 Indo, no off, agency fee $588, exclude loan
Filipino $450, one off, agency fee $688, exclude loan

I guess some agencies just want to take this opportunity to get higher agency fee. If employers give in, it will also cause more people to believe paying above $1k is a reasonable price, a norm, resulting the usual $388 becomes history.

[Karl12]

Hi Desertwind,

So the overall market rate has gone up? It’s indeed very expensive to get maids now. i got mine before Jun12, guess they take the opportunity to increase before the new rules! Somemore they know I am a first timer, tell me anything I also believe. Mine is a phillipino maid, also subject to such rules? Anyway, I heard from my maid that she is not on any loan and there is no fees incurred on her side. That why she will get her full salary on her first month. Guess I have sort of pay for all her whatever fees.

Hi Sad citizen, u are right. Soon the 388 or 588 will become a history as more and more started to tell their clients that 1.5k agency is the norm.
Btw, you mention that the agency fee is 688 exclude loan. I am not quite familiar with the loan thing. Is that the loan that the maid took and by right got nothing to do with employer? Dunno if this is the same loan my maid is telling me about. She mention she has "no loan" that why she get will get her full month salary on her first month.

[DesertWind]

Hi Karl12,


If your maid had a loan, then you would have to pay for her first ie. all upfront. Then you would have to pay about SGD3K or more upfront. Some of it agency fees (sunk cost for you and you won’t get it back), some of it maid’s loan which you would pay upfront and the maid will work for you for "free" for about 6 months to repay you back for her loan.

I understand this change or rules only applies to Indo. maids.

[sad citizen]

Karl12:

Hi Sad citizen, u are right. Soon the 388 or 588 will become a history as more and more started to tell their clients that 1.5k agency is the norm.
Btw, you mention that the agency fee is 688 exclude loan. I am not quite familiar with the loan thing. Is that the loan that the maid took and by right got nothing to do with employer? Dunno if this is the same loan my maid is telling me about. She mention she has \"no loan\" that why she get will get her full month salary on her first month.

Agency said it is the usual 10-11mth loan.

Comparing one year ago, the agency fee quoted is still higher than what I paid. :sad:

When my maid goes off, I'm quite afraid of being a domestic employer with weekly off days next year .... worry FDW uses her 400 hrs training time at home country to learn how play tricks, take full advantage and give me hell. You can see from the maid quality, they used the training hrs not to learn about safety and how to carry out their role as a domestic maid but also how to run away, where to hide.

[Cheekie]

So ridiculous! If the maid is to run to their embassy and insist want to go home, then we lost all our money! So is this right? So where is our protection?