Want to hire a maid but concerned about theft

[geisha]

First, I’m home when the maid comes. Second, never leave valuables in drawers , visible etc. Third, if you have a safe , keep it behind a locked door/ cupboard. Cheap safes are easy to open. If you’re that worried,set up cameras. Or clean yourself.

[Skallywag]

2 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

And all those people who go out to restaurants to eat a couple of times per week.... the day I can't cook for myself is the day I check into a 24 hr nursing facility...  erm... ????

having a maid come around a couple of times per week to do the laundry and clean the place up is a luxury  

I eat out quite a lot, every day in fact.  Food is a necessity, not a luxury.  40-50 baht for a meal is cheaper than I can make myself, though I do make breakfast most days, and maybe sandwich.  

 

I do take my laundry for cleaning at a 50 baht per KG shop, which is a luxury in a way. 

 

All depends on your income and priorities... 

[Skallywag]

2 hours ago, scorecard said:

pretty much always 4 adults active in the house

I guess none of the 4 adults are "active" doing their own cleaning - 55

 

 

[Blue Muton]

On 6/22/2019 at 3:19 PM, KittenKong said:

I'm not paranoid but the fewer people who come into my condo the happier I am. So yes, I do my own cleaning. I need the exercise anyway.

Ouch. Images of a stereotypical old Farang doing the "Shake & Vac" for exercise are not pleasant!

 

Alternatively, but equaly foul.....

 

 

I'm not suggesting that you in any way fit the stereotype BTW, it's just what your post brought to mind.

 

[elcaro]

I would at least do a background check through an agency. 

[stuandjulie]

One simply cannot get the staff these days old boy.

[Tomahawk21]

had maids in the past never any theft problems. the hardest thing is actually finding a maid that can clean properly. i gave up in the end i do most of it myself with the help of the g/f when she visits me.

[Just1Voice]

I've had the same 35-ish year old Burmese Housekeeper for about 6 years now. Every Wed from 9 - 4. She was off for 3 months with her pregnancy giving her some problems, so she sent her younger sister, who was just as good. I recently hooked her up with another farang for his condo every Monday.  He sent me an email thanking me and praising her.  If you are in Chiang Mai, send me a p.m.

 

[aussieinphuket]

and you are right thinking this, from experience we have had 3 thieves and liars both we kicked out, one the police involved.. dont befriend them be nice and courteous dont get familar....

 

we had to go to Bangkok urgently one week and needed to pay our PEA electricity account, it was about 22,000 thb, we left money with her, no reason not to mistrust her, she paid (apparently according to her) we returned a few days later and 2 weeks later PEA turned up to cut our power off due to unpaid bill, my wife went immediately to PEA office to talk to manager as maid insisted she paid but did not give us the receipt, he said had video tapes etc and they checked when she said she went then she told us some cock and bull story about a cover up in PEA as staff stole the money, all with a smile and went on working like nothing happened, after 3 days PEA came to villa with all records and she finally confused she stolen the money, now this raised another alarm as a few months prior we had a payment to swimming pool company for 5,000 go missing and a story about there staff stealing money and disappearing, anyway she finally confused and gave us back as much of the money as was left and we kicked her out still a few thousand thb out of pocket but at least gone.

 

second one stole my wife's Cartier watch about 1 million thb, my wife should not have left it out of the safe we have but after dinner one nite left in a box in bedroom and it went missing, so did this maid another story about sick parent having to go away, she hocked the watch didnt even now the value, we found out it was her as we have camera in our villa which i would highly recommend all around the property inside and out and we showed the police they called her to return to phuket and visa them this scared her and she returned the watch obviously the band was scratched and marked but we got it back... another kicked out.

 

another we kicked out took a toyota vios we had as a spare car, she stole the blue book and took the car and forged a transfer car was 6 months old. we used as a spare vehicle... she told lies we gave to her etc, i hate been taken advantage i took her to court she thought being thai against a faring she would win, judge laughed at her and told her to return the vehicle but she had it for 6 months and we did know the condition so we valued vehicle at 6 months old and judge made her to repay us 10,000 thb per month plus interest as we are not a finance company or bank. if she fails to pay back to court, sofa so good, nearly fully paid off....

 

get yourself a good safe, put camera in if you can afford to do this and show them you have camera and can check on time clock.... good luck.... be alert and keep eyes open...  

 

fortunately the 2 maids we have now are excellent and trustworthy but as my wife says she keeps them at an arms length ....

[BritManToo]

15 hours ago, Blue Muton said:

Ouch. Images of a stereotypical old Farang doing the "Shake & Vac" for exercise are not pleasant!

I don't believe Freddie counts as 'farang', more of a 'kairk' according to normal Thai racial slurs.

[RLAretired]

20 hours ago, scorecard said:

If nobody will be home ... my adult Thai son calls her to say 'take the day off' and we don't cut her payment.

 

Good idea and fair to the maid.  I'll start doing that when necessary.

[RLAretired]

2 hours ago, aussieinphuket said:

from experience we have had 3 thieves and liars both we kicked out, one the police involved..

 

Valuable information.  Thank you @aussieinphuket for taking your time to post about those experiences.

[scorecard]

18 hours ago, Skallywag said:

I guess none of the 4 adults are "active" doing their own cleaning - 55

 

 

I didn't mention what the 4 adults were doing and you don't know what they were doing, and not your business to assume anything.

[oznomad]

I get the cleaning done whilst at home. I stay in main room (studio).

Nothing worth stealing in kitchen or bathroom.

Shiny things locked away, just in case I am not looking.

This with ladies that come highly recommended by their expat employer of over 10 years.

I have no reason not to trust them but removing ANY temptation I believe is 84.3% of the problem solved.

 

Baiting, in my opinion, is simply asking for a drama.

 

A friend of mine used to mark the level on the bottle on the water cooler before leaving the house to see if the cleaner was drinking his (free, supplied by employer) water. 

 

 

[Baerboxer]

We had problems and don't bother with maids now for that reason. Have a cleaner visit as many times a week as we want her - she is trustworthy and works for lots of people in our village. Her late husband was head of security for the Mobaan developer. 

 

Some of them steal clothes for their kids back home etc. One young one stole phones, make up, costume jewelry and some family heirlooms that were low value but belonged to my great-grandfather. She was like a pack-rat. Another just pinched food - helped herself to whatever she fancied. She also started an affair with a married neighbor!

 

Some are trustworthy of course but you don't know and will only find out if/when they thieve or do something.