Called for a specific member of the household. When I said she's not available, gave up and left no message. We don't know anyone in Washington DC, so suspect telemarketing politics.

They can use their own $.

Called at 6:15 pm; hung up after third ring. This scenario is usually "multiplex dialing," in which calls are deliberately made in excess of the answering capacity, to maximize how many callers are actually on calls at any given moment. Trouble is, when capacity is reached, any pending calls become hang-up calls. It's a fundamentally unethical practice.

Brilliant answer. Thank you.

A little regulation will put a stop to that practice.