Ex helper owes money

We fired our helper a few months back for stealing. She left the house immedietely and we have had no further contact.


Since her departure we have had a number of letters and calls with regards to debts she owes. Most of these have been fine when we have told them she has moved on.


There is however one company whose calls and letters (addressed to the helper) are becoming more and more agressive. We have sent (as they requested) her termination document and have told them numerous times she has left and we have no forwarding address.


The latest letter (addressed to our ex helper) has threatened a 'home visit'. We rang them straight up after this, explained the situation for the upteenth time and were again told they wouldn't contact us any more. Given this is what they say every time I am still very concerned they will turn up at our house and harass our current helper and daughter who are often there alone as I work full time.


Has anyone else had this experience? Is is something I can go to the police with (I have the tel no and address of the company).


Also very shocked by the amount owed....43K.


Thanks!!

We had a similar situation once when we moved into a new apartment. The helper of the previous tenant had debts and we had a steady flow of letters addressed to her with 'FINAL DEMAND', etc, stamped on the envelope, which we returned to the sender informing them she was no longer at this address and we had no forwarding address for her.


The letters continued, so we eventually opened one in order to contact the company to tell them it was nothing to do with us. They seemed understanding and said they would stop sending the letters, but they continued. Then we started getting people calling at our apartment, but as we had an intercom downstairs I refused entry. Unfortunately, one day, the caller gained entry when someone else entered our block. I opened the door, unbeknown to me who it was, and had a very irate man shouting at me in Chinese. Needless to say, I felt very intimidated! He spoke a little English and I managed to get through to him that it was nothing to do with us ... However, this was after a lot of shouting/swearing (on my part as well as his!!). Although I was rather frightened, I became extremely angry at the fact they had sent someone to my home where my son or daughter (teenagers at the time) could have been at home alone and answered the door. I threatened to call the police to complain of harassment and he eventually went away. I called my husband at work to let him know what had happened, and he contacted the company straight away and told them, in no uncertain terms, what he'd do if they ever turned up at our home again!! Thankfully, they never did!!


If they are threatening you with a house call, I would definitely contact the police and tell them you are being harassed with abusive letters/phone calls and now they are threatening to call at your home. Give them the company names/numbers and name of your ex helper. Be sure to make a note of the date/time you spoke to the police and take the officers name who you speak to. If/when you get another call, you can confirm to them that you have made a formal complaint of harassment against them to the police. Hopefully, they'll get the message and leave you alone, but if not, it's best to have everything logged!


Hope you get it all sorted!

For this kinda situation, the police wouldn't be able to help unless they really have did something to harm your family. However, I would advice reporting this to the police, they will act promptly if you have them keep this incident in record in case if anything happen.


I guess, the best for just now would be inform your agency if any, and also taking the records of the callers and their company registry number and tell them that if they attempt to proceed further action, you will go to the police right away.

Ossie I would suggest sending along the actual address of your ex helper (in the Phillipines or Indonesia ect) in a letter to the finance company then they can go and harrass the helper and her family. I think if helpers are held accountable for their loans then fewer would get up to these shananigans.

If you have a recording system on your fix line or if they are calling on your mobile smartphone -= record the communication follow up by going to the nearest Police Report Station (there is one on Queen's Road Central next to Cheung Kwong Center." and make a repost make sure you make a copy of the call for giving it to the Police.

krips

Give them (fax or by mail) a copy of the online termination form you submitted to Immigration to cancel your contract when you fired her. If you don't have a copy the agency should. If you haven't submitted it yet, do it immediately. By law upon receiving this form they will leave you alone. Tell this to your friends who are bothered by loan collectors. It should be a sticky for all employers at the top of this advice column it comes up so often.

http://www.gov.hk/en/residents/employment/recruitment/terminateforeignhelper.htm

Return all the letters unopened to the sender. If the letters were addressed to the helper personally, you are at best in a gray area: opening someone else's private correspondence. The management at my estate takes letters addressed to previous tenants and returns them to the senders with a stamped note on the envelope.

Thanks for this. We returend the first few letters to sender but opened them when we were recieving continous phone calls and it was obvious that sending them back was having no effect.


We also faxed them the termination form (as they requested) but still received calls and letters after this.


Have heard nothing since the last call we made to them, so hoping that is the end to it but still worried by teh possibility of a 'home visit'.


On another note, is being able to borrow that kind of amount (43K) common for helpers?? Was shocked by how much was owed....