Auto Pay problems

Comcast, you need to get your [Removed] together in regards to Auto Pay.

My card was replaced in December. I added my replacement card as a payment source and set it up for Auto Pay. The web interface indicated no problems with my Auto Pay setup, but I was warned that it may take 1 or 2 billing cycles to update. Fair enough. So I made payment manually a time or two, then forgot about it. Auto Pay still hasn't "activated" and I was charged late fees several times. I'm on the phone with support for the 3rd time about this problem. Now the support agent tells me that Auto Pay is "blocked" on my account, possibly because of too many billing problems with my card. The agent admitted this could be because of a problem with my old (replaced) card--oh, you think? And even though there are no problems with the replacement card (I'm using it to make manual / one-time payments!), supposedly Auto Pay cannot be reinstated because of the previous billing problems (apparently due to the old card being replaced). This silliness can only make sense in a Comcast universe.

I (again) disabled Auto Pay and set it up again as requested by the support agent. After going through the prompts, a message indicated Auto Pay would be activated / take effect on 7/26/2016. Yeah, I don't believe it either. I fully expect to be calling Comcast support near end of July to escalate this problem.

If Fios, Google Fiber, etc. are ever available in our area, Comcast will lose us as a customer. We're planning to move to a more urban location in 2017, that has more Internet service options. This type of customer-unfriendliness will push us to consider other providers, even if costs are higher.