Check application status?

[nfoote]

I probably already know the answer given previous interactions with UK-whatiscustomerservice-BA but Is there any way at all to check the status of an application? Even if its just a "still processing" or "in the queue" status, just to check they're not waiting on me to do something so I know a lost bit of paperwork isn't holding everything up.
Does calling them work at all? I know a few recent media articles highlighted they refuse to discuss cases over the phone or email.