Personalized assistance system and method

A personalized assistance system for a user of a telephone, the personalized assistance system comprising:

• a first database, the first database having a contact list for the user, the contact list including at least one contact name and a corresponding contact number;
• a telephone identification code uniquely associated with the telephone said identification code being transmitted to said personalized assistance system, when said user calls the system;
• and
• a customer service representative terminal coupled to the database and the telephone hardware, the telephone identification code prompting automatic retrieval of the contact list to the customer service representative terminal in response to processing of said telephone identification code, the customer service representative terminal searching said contact list in response to a user query to locate a designated contact from the user's contact list and causing the telephony hardware to connect the telephone with the contact number corresponding to the designated contact, wherein said system provides a multimedia message to said user while said user is connected with said personalized assistance system.