Soraya Services

Soraya sent me a decent housekeeper to work 4 days a week, Mon, Wed., Fri and Sat. Soraya was very good about making sure to send a messenger over quickly to pick up her agency fee of $ 200 right after I decided to hire the housekeeper after a one week trial. Soraya was supposed to send me the housekeeper’s legal and ID info right away, after I hired her. Soraya told me she would mail it to me, but she never did (I guess it wasn’t as pressing and important to her as collecting the fee from me).
I started to get frustrated with the new housekeeper when I had to tell her the same instructions 4 – 5 times repeatedly (for example, make sure to hang up the wet clothes to dry before putting away the dry clothes from the laundry or the wet clothes would start to smell – common sense I would think) and found myself having to double check a lot of what she was doing. I also thought it was shady that this housekeeper told Soraya and me that she lived with her sister but she told another housekeeper in my building in Spanish that she lives with a boyfriend. Either way, the housekeeper left abruptly after around a month, she said for another job with an old employer who moved back from Europe. Whether that was true or not, I was relieved anyway because she wasn’t working out for me and I wanted to find someone better.
Soraya did help me find another housekeeper who was good (although that was after she had sent me a girl who I interviewed in my home who gave me a fake reference – I actually don’t think Soraya screens the references before she sends these people over to peoples’ homes). I asked this second housekeeper if she could work Tues. OR Thurs. instead of Sat. in the summer, since we would be away most weekends. She said ok. Next thing I know, after maybe 2 weeks of working for me, she comes the Wed. after Memorial Day weekend (she had Mon. off) and told me she’s leaving for another full time job. I call Soraya right away and Soraya said my housekeeper came into her office on Tues. (the day before) and told Soraya I had switched her from a 4 day job to a 2 day job. My housekeeper obviously misunderstood when I asked her if she could choose Tues. OR Thurs. instead of Sat. in the summer and thought I meant she should work ONLY Tues. and Thurs. instead of the original Mon., Wed., Fri. Sat. schedule. But Soraya didn’t bother to call me when my housekeeper was in her office to clarify with me, the client, what was going on. She probably was the one who found her another job since that’s how Soraya gets paid – and who cares about me anymore – she already had my fee. I was left again, with no help.
Soraya offered to find me another housekeeper, but I said after my 3 bad experiences already with 2 of the housekeepers she sent me leaving abruptly and one giving me a fake reference, her agency was not working out for me anymore. I asked for my $ 200 fee back and she said she’d have to «check my file» and would get back to me, as if she didn’t know exactly what she was up to. So while Soraya was very quick to have a messenger pick up the fee from me, she very easily «forgot» to refund me. Of course, I never heard back from her. I guess Soraya doesn’t worry about her reputation, repeat business and references from happy clients (there will always be plenty of new clients to dupe and desperate illegals, looking for work, to exploit).
Another example of Soraya’s dishonesty, one candidate’s reference that Soraya sent me, a woman from Great Neck, told me that Soraya never made her pay a fee at all and was shocked that I had to pay Soraya a fee. She said Soraya makes the housekeepers/​nannies, etc. pay her a fee of a week’s salary after Soraya places them with jobs. I thought that sounded like indentured servitude – but what do I know (and that candidate wasn’t even a housekeeper, but a live-​in assistant for this woman’s elderly parents, so I have no idea why Soraya sent me this candidate at all – it’s like she just sent me random names of people that had just walked in her door looking for jobs). And the woman who recommended Soraya to me told me she had to pay a full week’s salary as a fee, in addition to making her housekeeper/​nanny also pay a week’s salary for helping her find the job (which was more than the $ 200 fee I paid) which proves Soraya charges different people different fees and how having a revolving door of housekeepers/​nannies, etc. coming and going just keeps the fees coming in at all ends for Soraya and doesn’t even guarantee that you’ll have someone who stays and works out long term. If you want to deal with a professional agency with first class candidates AVOID Soraya agency.