Cox Communications Set up online automated bill pay never works Oklahoma city Oklahoma

In the past several years I've had to mail in my cox payments two months in advance.  This started when we first signed up with cox that I set up my account with cox website and online automated bill pay.  The payment wasn't initiated with my bank.  We received a notice with late charges. When I went into our cox account online to see what is going on, they've blocked my account for any online pay or phone pay.  I will now have to go into a cox store and pay with cash.  I thought this is crazy. I called and of course the over worked and under paid customer service rep just repeated what the online message account said and that was that.  So for several years I've been mailing a check with two month payment in advance.  I thought maybe it was my fault.  But, then my mother in law did the same thing with here new account and she too was charged a late fee and got a over due bill notice in the mail.  If dsl wasn't so unreliable I would change in a heart beat.  But, when there is a monopoly on a service like this, we all get ripped off in one form or another.