I try to avoid any form of auto-pay in general (Not just with Dish). If you have to manually pay a bill (Even if you're just getting it and paying it online), it's much easier to spot any overcharges. And because you haven't yet paid it, it's much easier to dispute it. With auto-pay, you run the risk that 1) You'll miss an extra fee you shouldn't be charged, 2) that charge will cause you to be missing vital funds needed to buy essentials like groceries or pay other bills unexpectedly and possibly even trigger an overdraft fee from your bank beyond that, and 3) I find in general it's a lot harder to get your money *back* from people than to not give it to them in the first place and tell them they aren't getting anything from you until the problem is rectified and the amount is agreed upon, and it may involve more steps like charge backs or trying to go get an overdraft fee back from your bank, etc..
I mean, think about even a situation where there is no screw up on the part of the company and they just raised their rates legitimately or there's an extra charge you agreed to and forgot about or whatever. Wouldn't you still want to see what you're paying before it's paid to make sure the money is available in your bank account and you can budget the way you want to?
Even if there is no extra charge period, isn't the leeway to pay as soon as the bill comes in, on the last possible day, or anywhere in between something that consumers should want to make sure the money is there for each bill or expense on the day it's paid and the financial month runs as smoothly as possible with no overdrafts and to help insure all needs get met and bills get paid?
I don't see auto-pay as a convenience. I see it as a trap. I opt-out whenever possible. I'd rather click a few extra buttons every month and know exactly what I'm paying and when I'm paying it before it's paid. I don't think it's a sound personal financial practice to not pay my own bills by hand (Electronically counts as by hand to me as long as nothing is subtracted before I click "send").
Also, paying by hand helps you spot price increases and decide when you need to drop a service or whatever (Out of contract). Once something is sort of out of sight, you may just (legitimately) be paying far more than you want to or can truly afford without realizing it.
I do auto-pay with Netflix because it's such a small fee and they offer not way to opt-out, but I waited years to sign up and have at times considered dropping it simply because I don't like auto-pay.
I'm not telling anyone not to do auto-pay if it's something they want to do. I'm just saying there is a hidden cost to it- not a direct financial cost, but a cost in terms of money management flexibility and seeing what you're doing and so on and so forth.