Graham Satchell's update on silent calls

It's a tactic used by companies to make marketing phone calls to potential customers.

The companies make multiple calls at once, using an automated system.

But they don't have enough operators to handle all the calls which means many or the recipients answer their phone and find no one at the other end.

Some elderly people, who are at home all day often have to deal with several calls a day which can be very distressing.

Silent callers fined Carphone Warehouse £35,000 Toucan £32,500 Space Kitchens £45,000 Bracken Bay Kitchens £40,000

But now four companies have finally been fined by Ofcom for making the so-called 'silent calls'.

Some of the companies involved will have to pay out a total of more than one hundred and fifty thousand pounds.

Carphone Warehouse was the best known company to be fined. It will have to pay £35,000; Ofcom can impose a maximum fine of £50,000.

The company said: "We accept Ofcom's findings that relate to the period of April to July 2006 and sincerely apologise to anyone who received a silent call.

"We have made significant progress since then and are now fully compliant with all Ofcom silent call regulations."

What can I do about silent calls?

If you're having problems with silent calls, one of the things you can do is register with the Telephone Preference Service which may help to reduce the number of marketing calls you get.

Follow the link to the right of this page.