The CC I use for autopay expired, so I activated the replacement, and yesterday sat down to update all the autopay accounts. The difference among businesses regarding how they deal with this is impressive. The card number doesn't change - same number, new expiration date. A few make it quite easy - just change the date. Others treat it as an entirely new card. A few require me to dis-enroll from autopay and re-enroll with the new card. Making payment difficult is not a business strategy I understand.
I still need to update three by phone next monday, their online account systems are not robust enough to handle such a transaction. And then there is one company that sub-contracts it's online payment to Western Union. I would expect a business that deal with money to be more robust. In their case, they simply will not accept the old card with a new expiration date. They will only take a new card, and require 2 months to enable it. In the meantime, they'll take my payment monthly, for the nominal charge of $2.95.