That sucks!!
Not the best of circumstances i believe. At that altitude you are probably short final which in my understanding is a critical portion of flight. I don't think the passengers would enjoy knowing that the pilots are busy trying to contact the tower rather then actually land the beast.
When weather is VFR ,well at least you can confirm rnothing is on the runway. But overall if i was flying that plane i would speak up and ask the ATCO for my landing clearance. Not only are you making sure that the runway is clear and good to go but u are also covering your ass in the event sth bad might happen.
The aircraft is still under your command and if you deem it not safe well pull the plug and do what you think is safe. Listening to an ATCO or vice versa,well sometimes can get you in some trouble.
Just think of the 747s accident in Tenerife in the 80s or so. If the KLM captain would have just listened to the PanAm captain.....