A FEW years back, the service industry, as far as professional maids was concerned, was largely unorganized an unprofessional, unless one got lucky, leading to issues related to dependability, punctuality, lack of training, range of services, and timely availability of maids.

Not anymore. Gurgaon has set ups that claim to offer reliable services for home needs via online registration and on-ground execution. The Maids’ Company, which has a snazzy 6-page colour brochure, a rarity in itself, provides groomed housekeepers who can cook, clean and wash. The company is an enterprise under the Urban Mahila and Mazdoor Alliance, and hires maids as an employee, giving the maids benefits, and managing them just like corporate employees.

With the company offering a five-day trial period to hire a particular maid, customers are eager to try the services of such companies. Uma Malhotra, who lives in DLF, Phase II, Gurgaon, told merinews.com, “It’s cheaper to hire a maid by asking around and without involving a company or an intermediary. But if one’s priority is quality, dependability, proper verification, and no off days by maids, then it’s worth it to spend good money on organized set ups. Plus, there’s the convenience of ordering maids online and telephone.”

Through the Maids’ Company, a customer can hire full time (10 hours) and part-time (5 hours) maids at Rs 6,600 and Rs 3,800 respectively. “What’s different from previous times is that a customer can order a maid online or call our customer care – something that just wasn’t available some years back. Depending upon availability we generally take one week’s time to place a maid in a home in Gurgaon, and right now we operate only in all the DLF phases in Gurgaon. We make sure that trained maids are sent and we take the responsibility of replacing a maid if a hired made takes leave,” Aditya, who works for the Ludhiana-based Maids’ Company, told merinews.com.

Within this emerging business and trend of ordering maids online or thought the phone, there are different price points at which vendors are offering similar services. The website hireahelp only asks for a deposit of Rs 500, deposited online, after which a customer can select from maids listed online along with their verified details. “We don’t take monthly or annual commissions for our service – only a one-time registration fee. Once a customer registers, he or she can chose from the maids listed and the price at which they will provide different home care services,” said Jagmal who works for hireahelp.

Then there are online vendors who make no bones about the fact that they will not be able to cater to the situation that often occurs – a maid not landing up at work without any intimation. The website domestichelpinindia charges similar to Maids’ Company but doesn’t guarantee similar level of service. “Maids not arriving for work is common. In such situations we are more or less helpless. We don’t provide special training. But we provide a maid for between Rs 6-7,000 and the maids are well selected and thoroughly verified,” said Harish, an employee at domestichelpinindia.

Gurgaon is not without its “creamy layer” of hired maids. Catering to a substantial population of expatriates and high net worth individuals and families in Gurgaon, domestichelpinindia can provide maids between as much as Rs 10-15,000 per month. “These maids are highly trained and most importantly have had training in working as a maid abroad, which explains the premium attached to their services,” said Harish.

Gradually, the trend in well-developed localities in Gurgaon is moving from hiring maids locally within the range of Rs 1,500 to 3,000 to online organizations who do the screening and training and take care of all the logistics through the year with no break in service.