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Nikki Sun

The Consumer Council received 234 complaints related to hiring domestic helpers last year, with the watchdog saying irresponsible intermediary agencies were to blame in many cases.
A report by the council showed that most grievances from local consumers concerned long delays in the hiring process, helpers not turning up for work on time and poor performance.
In many cases, local domestic helper agencies tended to shift the blame to their overseas counterparts when things didn’t work out – despite the thousands of dollars in handling fees they charged from consumers.
“Local agencies have ... to make sure that all the information their partners provide are verified,” said Michael Hui King-man, vice-chairman of the council’s Trade Practices and Consumer Complaints Review Committee. He added that false statements from those agencies could breach the Trade Descriptions Ordinance.
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In one case, a complainant paid HK$6,800 for an intermediary to find a helper to report for duty in mid-November.
But after a fruitless three-month wait and two unfulfilled promises, the complainant asked to cancel the agreement, but was told only HK$3,000 of the deposit would be returned. The other option was to settle for an unsatisfactory replacement.
But when the angry complainant checked with the Immigration Department, it turned out that the application for the helper had never been filed.

The local agency handling the process claimed it purely worked as a middleman, and whether the helper would like to come to Hong Kong was “beyond their control”, according to the report.
But even when the helpers did show up, some consumers still found they didn’t fit the local agencies’ descriptions.
Another complainant searched, through an intermediary, for a Cantonese-speaking helper to take care of her aged parents , but only ended up having a helper who could neither communicate in Cantonese nor cook well.
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And the complainant said that, worse still, the worker didn’t show much application.
This is despite the helper’s resume stating that she had “good command of Cantonese”, had received 600 hours of training, and had passed several tests arranged by the local agency.
When the customer reported her disappointment to the agency, staff there suggested she retain the helper, because any replacement would incur another handling fee of HK$6,000 – regardless of the HK$ 8900 referral fee she had already paid.
Aside from malpractice by agencies, the council also suspected that some helpers might deliberately perform badly to force their employers to dismiss them, so they can take up work with a new employer while receiving termination fees at the same time.
To tackle the issue, the Labour Department will stipulate a code of practice for domestic helper agencies, which will be submitted to the Legislative Council for consultation next Tuesday, according to the department.


Domestic helper agencies copped 234 complaints last year including over fees and unmet expectations

Long queues formed at Foreign Domestic Helpers Section of The Immigration Department where employers and agencies apply for renewing visas. Photo: Ricky Chung

Indonesian maids replenish themselves as they celebrate the 70th anniversary of Indonesian National Day under hot weather at Victoria Park, Causeway Bay. A number of maids suffered from heat stroke and were admitted to hospital. 23AUG15

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Consumer Council report cites more than 200 complaints over domestic helpers last year


Domestic helper agencies copped 234 complaints last year including over fees and unmet expectations

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Consumer Council report cites more than 200 complaints over domestic helpers last year

Consumer Council report cites more than 200 complaints over domestic helpers last year