BookMyBai — Unethical Behaviour

Address:	Bengaluru / Mumbai
Website:	www.bookmybai.com

I am writing this review to highlight the unethical behavior of the organization Bookmybai. They claim they make on their website is far removed from reality.

Let me state the chain of events in chronological order:

Early March, 2020: I made my first payment of Rs. 1000 to fast-track my maid search. I was finally given a coordinator (Initially Pavitra, and then Sheefa) on the 13th of March.
Soon after, the pandemic and lockdown started, and Bookmybai mentioned that there is no supply of maids.

18th May, 2020 - I got a message saying that Bookmybai is operational and got back in touch with Sheefa to ask for status.

25th May, 2020: I again asked for an update, but got no response. i had already paid Rs. 1000 for a fast-tracked process, but I couldn't find any difference in the paid plan.

17th Aug, 2020: Because of increased workload at office and due to personal health issues, we were really in need of a household help. I messaged again on 17th and made Bookmybai aware that we had opted for the paid plan, and that we are waiting for some response. The service charges had changed, and I was asked to pay Rs. 20, 000 + 18% GST. I was also said that the maid shall charge Rs. 15k, but the service charges were increased because of the pandemic. Technically, I should have been given the older pricing since I had made an initial payment before the pandemic, but Bookmybai team folks were adamant. I had to pay the revised fees itself.

Till 8th Sept, 2020: There were intermittent conversations regarding safety issues, and we still didn't get any maid.

9th Sept, 2020: Finally, we were shared the link of a maid named Manju. (www.bookmybai.com/manju/175526). Given it was the middle of the day, I couldn't connect. By the end of the day when I called, I was mentioned that she has already been selected, and is no longer available.

15th -17th Sept, 2020: Another maid called Murugammal was shortlisted, and we were mentioned that she has 5 years of experience, and 2 years have been through Bookmybai. She had a salary expectation of 17-18, 000, which we were not comfortable with. There is always some space for negotiation, and we asked Bookmybai to finalize at Rs. 16k which they agreed. I was said that the maid shall join only after I pay the entire service charge. I was also mentioned that that police verification has not been done (which is something I expected, given the steep service charges). I was mentioned that I have to do the police verification of my own, which I finally had to agree. I made the payment, and the Whatsapp group Bookmybai/555892 was created, where Jake (team leader) was added. He confirmed that the service charges were for 6 months (first shock) and for 3 replacements of maids. Those replacements were subject to the fact that she is fine to start work with us and suits our requirements (police verification, background check, etc.). I made the payment of Rs. 23, 600 on 17th Sept.

18th Sept, 2020: The maid Murugammal after joining was not fine with salary. The agreement letter mentioned a salary of Rs. 16k, but she was expecting Rs. 19-20k. When we said that we had only agreed for Rs. 16k, she was not okay. She kept talking on her mobile phone trying to keep that hidden from us, but since we have security camera at home, we were able to see the same. Eventually, she said that she won't be able to continue unless we pay Rs. 19k. Then we mentioned that there was some misunderstanding with Bookmybai, because we had already mentioned the team that we can pay only Rs. 16k. She was unwilling to work, and we asked your Boomybai to provide a replacement. We did have a conversation with the Bookmybai representative along with the maid, (which we recorded as evidence) where the maid mentioned that she had no idea about Bookmybai, and that she only came to know about this company before 2 days. The whole premise on the basis of which we decided to go for this maid was the fact that she had been employed through Bookmybai for 2 years. This is how Bookmybai operates. They create a false profile of an individual, and coerced me to make the payment. Now that my money was with them, I was forced to take their service (up to 3 replacements) and there is no way to opt for a refund based on the false promise made by them. But since my money was already stuck with Bookmybai, I thought to go ahead with them.

19th - 28th Sept, 2020: Multiple conversations happened but nothing materialized. I was said that refund was not possible, and I can only be given credit note. Bookmybai team (Jake and Sheefa) agreed to the mistake that happened while the scrutiny of the maid was being done, and I was promised another replacement without considering this maid as one of the 3 promised replacements. I was said that I had to get another individual to get the funds. I was also said that a refund was not possible. I had enquired before payment on the status of refunds, to which Jake mentioned that the same was handled by a different team and he shall get back to me about the same. To my repeated questions, Jake said that refunds is a possibility, but it rests with a different team. He didn't give a direct answer to my question (dodgy replies), and since I wanted a maid at home I went ahead with the payment. Now when I asked for a refund on the basis of the lie, I was assured multiple times of being provided a reliable maid. I was left with no option, but to opt for another maid. I was said that background verification was done, but no such thing was happening. I doubt if there was any due diligence being done while shortlisting a maid on Bookmybai. It seems any random person with a good story can start getting jobs through this portal.

29th Sept, 2020: I was mentioned that I was not getting a maid for the salary I had initially agreed to pay (16k). Maids were available, but they were not willing to go for a salary of Rs. 16k. I was said that the right maid will take time, and I was promised a replacement by the first week of October. I was ensured that the same fiasco won't happen again, and a proper background check shall be done.

3rd - 10th Oct, 2020: We were shared a profile on 3rd October (www.bookmybai.com/swapna/192833), which we were not okay with. By 5th of October, she was taken by someone else. Frustrated by the situation, we decided to increase our budget and get the right candidate since I was repeatedly said that multiple candidates were available but not for my budget of 16k.

10th - 15th Oct, 2020: We got a profile of a lady named Natasha Rana (DOB 09/09/1994 as per Aadhar). We were said that she had 2 sons, and the elder son was in PU (Or 12th class), and younger son was 12 years old. How old do you think the older son would be, when her mother is born in 1994? This was a very misleading number, but we decided to go for her. At our society premises, the lady Natasha was asked to provide 2 reference numbers for emergencies (since she was a full time maid), and the references are recorded. Both the numbers were invalid. She didn't have the number of her brother with whom she was staying in Bengaluru. She didn't have the numbers of her previous clients as well. However, one number of her friend was correct, and after verification, she was allowed into the society. As we had mentioned to Bookmybai, we disclosed to the maid that we shall be doing the police verification (We found her story to be fraudulent. Given the due diligence of Bookmybai team, we had to take matters in our hand.). She got scared upon hearing of police verification and mentioned that she was never informed of this from the Bookmybai team. However, bookmybai team mentioned that they had conveyed all details to the candidate.

16th - 20th Oct, 2020: She was very unwilling to work when we mentioned about police verification. On 20th afternoon, she complained that she was having a fever and body ache. Those were not something that we could overlook, given the pandemic. We called back your team and they asked a couple of questions about her health. Given her unwillingness to work, unwillingness to consult a doctor (which we would have paid for), and showing symptoms of Covid19 it wouldn't have been sane for us to continue with her service. (We were still considering on not doing a police verification, but she herself said that she won't continue anymore). The same day (20th Oct), she left our house.

21st Oct - 6th Nov: We tried reaching out to Bookmybai, but they were very busy looking for candidates suiting our requirements. When we reach out to the team, they have only those candidates available which we do not suit our requirements. For eg., when we ask for a 24-7 candidate, Bookmybai had only full-day candidates. When we ask them to search for a 10hr or 12hr candidate, they have 24-7 ones only. When we are fine with either of them, and even up to the salary requirements, they say that candidates are unavailable because of the festive season. When my friend reached out to enquire about the availability of maids (a similar requirement as mine), they said that they have good availability of maids for BLR. However, when I call and ask, they said that it will take some time as they have no maids available due to the festive season.