Indeed interview questions

I applied for the position and two weeks later got an email from a recruiter asking to schedule a phone call. The phone interview was quite easy and nice. The recruiter was friendly and asked questions about my past experience, spheres of interest, and expectations. They also told about the position and the company. At the end of our conversation, the recruiter told they would contact their manager and come back to me "early next week" to inform about the next steps. Unfortunately, they did not. After my two reminders, three weeks later, the recruiter emailed me saying I was not short-listed for the next round of the interview process. Meanwhile, the position ad was removed. It looked like they needed time to complete recruiting of some candidate, and I was there just in case. The experience would not be so unpleasant if the recruiter was courageous enough to say "we need two more weeks to make a decision" or did not ignore my reminders.