KUALA LUMPUR: Another three Malaysians have suffered losses after they were cheated by the same maid agency.
One of the complainants, who wants to be identified as Siou, 42, said she got to know about the maid agency located in Bandar Puteri, Puchong, through her friend.
“I paid a total of RM16,700.000 through three transactions to get an Indonesian maid and I received the maid a day after the payment was made.
“Less than three weeks after I employed her, I caught her near the guard house attempting to flee,” she said.
Siou then returned the maid to the agency for counselling sessions and she was replaced by another maid, but she found out that the maid also has a bad track record.
“Later on, I approached the consumer tribunal and received an award in which the agency needed to return the exact amount that I paid.
“However, when I received a post-dated cheque from the agency, the cheque bounced,” she added during a press conference held together with MCA Public Service and Complaints Bureau chairman Datuk Seri Michael Chong here today.
Another case was Foo, 42, whose maid ran away after the payment was made.
Another complainant, who wants to be identified as Poon, 55, said he paid RM16,400.000 to the agency but found out that the maid was not registered with the immigration and had no valid work permit.
Chong said in 2016 there were five cases related to maid problems with losses of about RM63,000. However last year there were 15 cases involving RM198,500 losses.
“These complainants made payment to this maid agency and were given many excuses.
“The tribunal awards given to the complainants were wasted as the agency was irresponsible and does not respect the law.
“I hope the government can take action by not renewing the agency’s licence to make the consumer tribunal awards more effective,” he said, adding that relevant authorities should take the matter seriously.
On the same issue, Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (Papa) president Jeffrey Foo who was present said as the process to get the tribunal award takes a long time, the defendant could be charged under Section 117 (1) of the Consumer Protection Act 1999 and could be fined not more than RM5000 and jailed up to two years.
“Although the process of prosecuting takes a long time, Papa will do what it takes since the maid agency is one of our members.
“We will compile every case and will refer all these cases to the Human Resource Ministry to investigate.
“Papa will recommend suspension and cancellation of related companies as we are serious about weeding out unscrupulous agencies, whether they are a member of Papa or not,” he said.
Foo added that Papa’s stand was very clear as they would not condone unscrupulous business dealings.