Rental Car Woes

Whilst at Cheltenham we decided to do a day trip out to a couple of small village towns. We set off in the MG HS Avis rental car, as you do and only got around the block to find we had a flat right front tyre. After a quick check found we had no spare in the car, so figured best we call the Avis 0800 number and they would send help. WRONG.
We were using a New Zealand phone and on a global roaming plan so not a cheap thing to do. After speaking to FIVE different people and a total of 58 minutes of phone calls (a lot of that on hold listening Avis advert over and over again) and just over NZD85 spent on calls and time spent in total from 9.30am to 4pm we finally got a tow truck organised to take it to a tyre place and get a new tyre fitted. (The flat tyre had a screw in the side wall). During all this we also found that the car had no current Road Tax so AA would not touch it which was part of the delay in getting it move.
The final person I spoke to after a lot of passing the buck was reasonably nice to talk to and has agreed to pay for a lot of inconvenience plus the phone calls and drop a day off the hire. Barely enough but it is better than nothing. My Global Roaming exceeded my daily limit so the last part of my phone calls were on a much higher price.