Getting ‘instant maids’ now a bane for three

KUALA LUMPUR: Three working professionals thought they had struck gold when they managed to get “instant maids” without the usual hassle of preparing documents and waiting for months.

A year down the road, they are each poorer by thousands of ringgit after their maid agency refused to compensate them when issues arose with the maids’ employment.

Each had sought the services of a maid agency in Bandar Puteri, Puchong and had been told some maids were already in Malaysia and ready to be employed.

They had to simply choose the maid they preferred and make the payment of RM16,700.

One of the employers, an engineer who only wanted to be known as Siou, paid the amount in three different transactions in the first week of January last year.

“I received the receipts later and realised that they were issued by a different maid agency and wanted to raise that issue.

“But just seven days after I got my maid, I caught her trying to run away with the neighbourhood security guard and quickly took her back to the agency to demand for another maid,” she told a press conference.

Siou got her replacement maid immediately – only to find out later that the maid had tuberculosis and so had to be sent back again.

“All the other maids I received after that were also ‘rejected maids’ because they had health issues or were unable to do household work,” she said.

Another employer, a sales executive known only as Poon, said he paid the full amount to the maid agency but had to return his maid after three months.

“I found out that she was neither registered with the Immigration Department nor did she have a working permit. She had come to Malaysia on a tourist visa and it had expired,” he said.

The third, Puchong-based Doctor Wong said his maid also ran away within seven days.

“I came home from work to find her missing, and lodged a police report as well as informed the maid agency. Now I still have no maid although I have paid the full amount,” he said.

All three took their case to the Tribunal for Consumer Claims under the Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Ministry.

The tribunal had instructed the agency to repay the full costs.

MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong, who chaired the press conference, said the Human Resources Ministry should cancel the permits of such companies.

“Some agencies cannot be reached after a while, and worse, in some cases we find out they have been blacklisted but continue supplying maids,” he said, adding, his department will attempt to reach out to the maid agency to find a resolution.