Senseless at Census

A person I know quite well owns a home that currently sits unoccupied (you might say pending renovation or until the economy turns around presumably after Obama has left office). Suffice it to say the residence is obviously unoccupied, and the owner sent the United States Census mailer back immediately after it was initially received months ago indicating that no one lived at said address. But the alacrity of the home owner's response did not stop the Census Bureau from sending a canvasser to check the property's status. As is mostly the case, with no one living there and even the water cut off to the building, when the Census man arrived, there was nobody present to answer his queries. So, Mr. Census left a note saying he must be reached between four and seven (4-7)pm at a particular telephone number, which the home's owner has called diligently from the day the note was left at the specified time and left several messages with a return number but no further response from the government's agent. Is this phone tag which was completely unnecessary to start with as the owner complied fully and answered truthfully all the questions on the initial Census mailing really cost effective? Is there not a better use of limited Federal resources than wasting dollars like this?