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The 3 biggest lies? I'm from the government and I'm here to help you. The check is in the mail. And then there's...

'Thank you for holding. Your call is very important..."

Well if my call is so important to you, then why am I sitting here listening to elevator music?

We've all been there... You call a company to try and get a little customer service, but instead what you end up doing is battling an automated phone system.

You know what? It's time for a different approach... some free solutions that are going to turn the tables and put you in the front of the line.

Example? Gethuman.com shows you how to bypass phone prompts, to get to a live person faster.

Like texting? A free app for iphone and android called TalkTo connects you to businesses via text. Average wait time for a return text is five minutes, and when we tried it, we got a response in four.

Here's a good one: Rather than wait on hold for a customer service rep, use lucyphone. You hang up, lucyphone waits on hold and calls you back when a customer service person is actually on the line.

And one last idea: go public. Post your problem on sites like facebook and twitter, and you just might get a quick resolution.

Bottom line... sometimes when old technology is the problem, new technology can be the solution. What you need now is links to those apps and sites we mentioned and we've got them waiting for you at MoneyTalksNews.com. Just do a search for "customer service." And you won't have to wait.

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