What a Joke !

The maid issues have been very stressful to us. The whole situation seems like a joke now. The maid is still under my permit. The agent provides me a temporary maid which is under her permit. She uses her as an extra maid to supply to those who needed a temporary maid.

Since the temp maid is currently with someone, I agreed to swap my maid with the temp maid. And I have to pay agent $10 per day for the temp maid. Seems fair. Its agent's maid, I pay agent.

The scams:
1. The agent’s maid, I have to pay $10 per day. My maid under my permit, working for other people pays agent $10. They are making money from both side.

2. By paying the agent $10 per day, we have to pay extra $50 – 60 a month.

3. According to the agreement, should she not complete her 2 years of service, she has to pay for her own flight ticket. Agent said the agreement which has been signed by myself and the maid is JUST TO SCARE HER! If I am sending her back at her own expense, they will not replace me with a new maid.

4. Should I send my maid back now with my own expense, they will replace me a new maid the next 1-2 months time and will immediately withdraw her temp maid from me.

5. I requested to refund back my $1,500 which I paid for the maid's advance salary, since the maid is not with me now. They told me they can only refund the amount minus the 3% commission charges from the credit card, which was not even mentioned to me before I make payment. If I did not request for the refund, I will not need to bear the 3%.

6. They insisted us to allow our maid to transfer. Their reason is “Don’t make us lose money” If I send my maid back, they have nothing to lose. If I would allow her to transfer, I need to wait for another 1.5 months as the law here only allowed a maid to be transferred after 3 months of working in Brunei (my maid has been working with me 1.5 months). During this coming 1.5 months, the agent gets $10 per day from my maid's service to her potential employer. Should the transfer becomes successful, the agent will get $700 agency fee and $250 penalty from the maid who wanted to change employer. An agency fee for a new maid is only $850.

7. If after 1.5 months has passed and nobody wants her, I still need to pay for her ticket while the agent gets the $10 per day during that period!!

8. While waiting for someone to accept her, to be transferred from us, I cannot apply for any new maid as I only have one foreigner employment quota. I need to cancel my maid's permits first before I can apply for another maid.

Don’t you think this is a joke?