They still charge a $25 fee everytime your card does go through,
What? You're charged a $25 fee for paying with a card? Why would anyone do that? You probably meant "doesn't go through". But still, it sounds like you've had to pay a $25 fee more than once, so what you're doing isn't working for you. You should probably just pay with cash. How is paying with a card considered 'Autopay' anyway? Do you have to initiate the transaction every month? Or, are you just equating 'card' to a bank demand deposit account that's automatically debited each month?
For individuals who manage their demand deposit accounts responsibly, ACH payments are the safest, easiest and most reliable form of payment. Unless Cox has their own payment system, that may be how they process 'Autopay' payments. It's been my method of Cox payment for decades without issue. Just keep a sufficient balance in your account and record the bank account debit for the Cox payment each month.
So funny that you live on this forum working for Cox for free, or maybe not free. At any rate..
This has nothing to do with being responsible. Cox offers automatic payments on card or ACH, I chose card. The first time they chaged me $25 was for a card that expired after being on my profile for 2 years. The second time was recently when I had to request a replacement card. Both times the transaction was declined, not "returned" like a traditional ACH. There are no fees to Cox for this.
I know of no other companies that charged a "returned transaction fee" for declined card charges. Can you imagine getting charged $25 everytime you accidently key in the wrong information on an online purchase? It's ridiculous, so stop trying to defend Cox.
I'm not defending anybody. You vented about a payment problem you're having and I offered a better solution for you... cash. I chose ACH decades ago and have never had a single payment issue. I don't recall ever having to do anything related to Cox payments since I set it up except record the monthly debits to my bank account. Whose fault was it that an expired card was your payment method of record? Why was the second transaction declined? Cox wants to get paid. They're not going to decline a payment without a reason. If it was your bank that declined the transaction, that's a bank issue. It sounds like you chose the wrong payment option. If Cox is charging you $25 fees for non-payment, you should probably do something different to avoid missing payments.
