You really ought to start examining your receipt from a restaurant with a magnifying glass these days, as according to this disgruntled diner, 'hidden' charges are now being slipped onto bills without people realising.
When heading out to eat, a lot of people tot up their expenditure as they go along so that they don't get any surprises when they finally manage to wave the waiter over to settle their tab.
But sometimes, no matter how good your mental maths abilities may be, the grand total ends up being a few quid over what you had estimated.
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Maybe you miscalculated the price of an item, or forget to incorporate that second round of drinks into the bill - or, perhaps, you have been stung by a restaurant adding a transaction fee on top of what you ordered.
This is exactly what happened to this bloke, prompting him to become seriously concerned about how many times this charge has been added onto his receipt throughout the year without him noticing.
After sharing his story in a post on Reddit, it flung a lot of other people into a panic too, as diners fear this new 'hidden surcharge trend' is something which more and more eateries are partaking in.
Discussing how his meal out ended on a bad note, the Australian man explained he had paid for his grub without noticing any signs warning people that they would also be penalised for paying with their card.
He had ordered two classic pepper rice dishes with beef, each costing $16.50 (£8.69), as well as one can of Pepsi Max which bumped the bill up by another $3.95 (£2.08) - which would have come up to $36.95 (£19.46) altogether.
However, the restaurant also included two other fees - an 'All Cards Surcharge' at 0.79 percent costing him $0.32 (£0.17), and 'Saturday Surcharge at 10 percent', setting him back another $3.70 (£1.95) - which added another $4.02 (£2.12) on the bill.
The man shared the post to Reddit while asking social media users if 'EFTPOS (electronic funds transfer at point of sale) fees and surcharges are normalised now', seen as though it was snuck on at the bottom of his bill.
He explained in the post: "Correct me if I’m wrong, but a few years ago, EFTPOS fees or any surcharges were displayed very clearly at the counter.
"In fact, staff would usually go out of their way to let us know if there was a surcharge, how much it was for, and why it was there. Now it seems nothing is actually priced the amount they advertise.
"Retailers are always adding some fees, even my local coffee shop will tack on an additional 15c to my order. The fees are never explained nor are they listed anywhere in the shop, they just hand you the EFTPOS machine without saying a word. I cant help but feel scammed.
"Almost bloody $4 in fees and not a single sign to be spotted," he fumed. "I noticed when I saw how much the transaction was on my phone and because I thought, surely my meal wouldn’t have added up to that much?"
Other Redditors claimed they'd been experiencing this a lot more lately when dining out, with some saying they had even started paying cash everywhere to avoid getting stung by unexpected surcharges.
One user explained: "Legally, they can charge the fee they incurred or loss they incurred by using EFTPOS. They can, but it must be clearly informed to the customer before the payment."
Another wrote: "I’ve gone back to cash due to all the surcharges. They are honestly just too much for me. Once you pay attention to them, it’s an eye watering amount."
Meanwhile, a third added: "And they wonder why people are eating out less. It is very sneaky. I'd never go back."
Topics: Food And Drink, Money, News, Technology, Australia
Olivia Burke