A financial guru has shocked many people with his apparent revelations over service charges at restaurants.
Money Saving Expert found Martin Lewis took to Twitter to ask his followers in a poll when they paid the full service charge that had already been added to their bill, showing strong results for 'always pay it'.
Hundreds responded, but many were shocked saying they had no idea you did not have to pay it, reported Liverpool Echo.
He tweeted: "If there is a 'discretionary service charge' added to your bill in a restaurant, do you always pay it, or do you ever take it off or pay less?"
One Twitter user said: "Can you actually ask for these to be taken off?!?!"
Marin replied: "Yes."
Others were just as surprised, and one said: "I did not know this! I hate it when they add it on without asking me."
Another said: "Always paid it, but didn't realise it was optional, in future I'll be asking for it to be removed! Never presume your service has been excellent!!"
A fourth added: "I think it's taking a massive liberty to automatically add "Gratuity" to a bill - I will tip the staff that serve me directly if I feel they have gone beyond 'doing their job'".
A discretionary service charge is an amount of money added to your bill for the work the person serving you has done.
It is automatically added, but should be shown on your bill as a separate item.
You can decide to have it removed and tip the amount you feel is appropriate, or not tip at all.
