Please help to get insurer Rias to stop hassling me with silent phone calls.
My home insurance is up for renewal and, in the past, I have contacted the company to get a quote. But now it seems to think it is perfectly reasonable to leave its calls silent. Last week I got three calls all on the same day. They were all silent when I picked up the phone. I know it was Rias as I checked the number.
The Financial Conduct Authority said it has nothing to do with them and gave me Ofcom’s number. It, too, was unable to help other than to give me a complaint number and suggest I contact my phone provider and request it blocks calls.
This would have done nothing to protect other people who are also being pestered and appears to make a nonsense of the legislation and the ability to use it.
DM, Wheathampstead
Silent calls happen when companies use automatic dialing machines to call up customers but don’t have enough call handlers to take the call.
They can be quite distressing to some recipients. Your tale is all the more surprising given that Rias’s owner, Ageas, was fined £10,000 by Ofcom for this very problem in 2014.
I asked the firm about your case and it confirmed that you had received the calls. However, it has now taken you off its systems so that you won’t receive any more. Ofcom says it “monitors complaints to identify companies who are breaking our rules, and will take action where needed to protect consumers”.
We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number
