I’ve always been reluctant to set up anything for auto-payment from either a bank or credit card account, and your situation highlights a growing problem with it. Many years ago I had a subscription service that I paid by check each month, and couldn’t reach a human to shut it off. Finally figured out they’d contact me if I didn’t send a payment OR return the material for a couple of months - and that is exactly what happened (and how I canceled it).
If a merchant receives too many credit card chargebacks from their customers the merchant’s bank will start hitting them with higher fees.
Monthly chargebacks over 1% of gross sales will typically start triggering the extra fees, which are much higher than the chargebacks. A merchant with a 10% chargeback rate can get hit with fees of 50%. (This often happens a with pron websites.)