Be wary of this employment agency: Tailormaid

Recently we had a terrible experience with the agency called Tailormaid Employment Agency (Address: 27 Robinson Road, Mid-Levels, Tel: 28689719; Contact person: Lena). Other than outright cheating of Tailormaid, we even doubt about collusions between this agency and some helper to gain on agency fees.


AA (let’s keep this helper anonymous for the moment), our former helper, decided to resign on 30 September 2013, only two and half months after she was hired. The reason she provided was that she wished to spend more time with her child in Philippine.


When AA arrived in Hong Kong on 11 July 2013, we quickly realized we were cheated by both the Tailormaid Employment Agency and AA on AA’s employment record. We hired AA from Philippine through a Hong Kong based Agency called Tailormaid Employment Agency (Address: 27 Robinson Road, Mid-Levels, Tel: 28689719; Contact person: Lena). According to AA’s resume provided by Tailormaid, she had never worked in Hong Kong before. But on the day she arrived in Hong Kong, we were told by Tailormaid that AA has already got her HK ID because she worked briefly in Hong Kong from 17 April to 8 May 2013. Lena, the agent at Tailormaid, tried to persuade us to give AA a try. During AA’s short stay with us, we found she had little experience, much different from what she claimed about her experience obtained in Philippine. However, we did not plan to lay off her in the near term.


With AA’s speedy resignation, we are afraid that the case might be even beyond an outright cheating by Tailormaid and AA. Based on AA’s two very short employments in Hong Kong this year, we are concerned that Tailormaid and AA colluded to gain on agency fees (HKD7990 per helper on top of other fees around HKD2000). According to Tailormaid’s contract with employers, Tailormaid only gives 20% discount on finding a replacement if a helper quits within one year.

I don't see how an FDH can gain out of the 10k you've spent processing her papers. These helpers from poor countries (especially Indonesia) pay back at least 6 months of their full month salary as placement fee. Agencies I'm sure gain, but not helpers.

Malka, I think that's shallow analysis of what's happening. Sure, its the helpers' problem if they overpay but if it's true that supports my argument that they do not benefit from early termination of contracts.

Well, I heard some agencies encourage the helper to terminate the contract (by giving them cash coupon, etc.) so that they could do more business and earn more fees. They can simply make the helper's employment records "clean" just like this case, and send her back to HK again.

There is a zero placement policy for Filipino DH to come to HK to work. ANY agency charging fees are subjected to closure and fines from the Philippines Consulate. This is why the placment fees have jumped to such a high level now. The agencies cannot remain within the legal walls and remain in business unless all fees are collected by the employer.

This zero policy means that if a girl is mistreated or simply does not care for her employer she can quit and look for another. Due to this recent turn of events, the HK Immigration Dept has begun to take notice of early terminations and the reason given. They have refused to issue another visa according to recent reports in the newspapers.Therefore it is not in the best interests of either the agency (who can face a liscense loss) nor the girl (who faces not having a valid visa from the Govt) to quit.

To the OP, I suggest that you were deceived by not having clear information on previous working experiences. One can always ask for proof of work experience by asking to see the chops in the passports from the relevant country. This is quite easy to produce form either the girl or the agency.

I suggest HKwatcher and Malka analyze the economics of a helper colluding with the agency where they plan together to scam the employer by terminating the contract very early.


The OP's case for example where she spent 10K HKD. I assume about 3K of this goes to airfare, insurance, training, etc. for new helpers. So if for each case the agency and helper earns 3,500 HKD each, where's the benefit to that? That's less than 1 month salary of a helper. How long does it take for a helper who terminated her contract to come back to HK (contract processing alone takes 2.5 months already! include finding and matching employer/helper and takes too long)? It doesn't make sense to me, does it make sense to you? It's too much hassle. That is why I put the blame on unscrupulous agencies taking advantage of both the helper and the employer.

Did you read my post Punter?

I said that the Immigration department is cracking down on this type of behaviour! There is no need to analyze economics when the whole thing is stopped by Immigration.

The OP's criticism was about mis information on previous working experience right? Am I missing something here?

HKwatcher you said, "Therefore it is not in the best interests of either the agency (who can face a liscense loss) nor the girl (who faces not

having a valid visa from the Govt) to quit."


I'm saying many agencies are taking their chances. They find a way to get away with what they're doing.

I've also had bad experience with Tailormaid - they were supposed to replace a helper if she resigns or is terminated within a certain period of time; they did not - by finding various excuses saying they don't have a suitable replacement.