If you have a complex prescription, my recommendation would be to go to a good independent optician (or a small chain). VisionExpress once told my sister that nobody made contact lenses in her prescription - at the same time I had been wearing lenses with a much worse and more complex prescription for many years, but I got them from a small, local place.
For the record, most of the people I know who work in ophthalmology wouldn't touch the larger chains with a barge pole for their glasses/contacts.
Yep, that's pretty sad! Go you!