Martin Lewis issues warning to shoppers over Black Friday as he says ‘be careful’

Martin Lewis has called on people to be “careful” if shopping this Black Friday as stores slash their prices as part of the annual sales event.

Ahead ofBlack Friday on Friday 24 November,which has already seen brands roll out huge deals, the consumer expert has issued a caution to shoppers who may be hoping to grab a bargain or two as shops dramatically reduce their prices for the occasion.

Speaking on Martin Lewis Money Show Live earlier this week, Martin gave some words of wisdom in a bid to stop members of the public getting too caught up by the temptations that can come with such a huge sales event.

Instead of rushing to buy discounted items, he encouraged viewers to be mindful when purchasing products and to only buy items that they’d have bought if it were full price.

“The big Black Friday message for you, I am gonna give you this, my Black Friday shopping memo. If you were going to buy it anyway, and it's half price, you've saved 50%,” he said. “If you weren't going to buy it, but do it because it's half price, it's cost you 100%. So be careful.”

The money-saving expert’s advice comes afterhe issued a warning to all energy customers who pay by direct debit earlier this month.

Despite the energy price cap dropping, Martin,who is known for his money-saving tips and tricks, warned that many people's bills are still going up and encouraged them to take action.

“Rates dropped on October 1, but many direct debits have still risen. So do an up-to-date metre reading, make sure you're not in any energy debt,” he said.

“Go online and use an 'is my direct debit correct' calculator where you put in your annual usage and it should tell you roughly what you should be paying.”

Using this tool can allow you to figure out if you’re paying too much for your energy usage and, if you are, Martin said that you can ask for a fairer direct debit under the energy company's licence conditions.

To do so, he encouraged people to get on the phone and ask if the company could justify why the direct debit has been set so high and to mention that a calculation shows that you shouldn’t be paying as much as you are.

“Say 'can you justify why the direct debit is so high when I'm not using anywhere near that much, my calculation shows I shouldn't be paying that much and I would like you to lower it' and you come to an arrangement of where it should be lowered,” he said.

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