> I've caught them transposing
> digits and such which would break the pairing.

Given how small the numbers are on the label it's not too hard to get them
wrong. Tiny print and a long series of digits is a recipe for mistakes.
You'd at least think they'd break the sequence into smaller groups (ie
111-222-333 instead of 111222333) but nooooooo....

The Tivo shows you the cablecard numbers but the tech kept trying to read
them off the card directly.

I put the cards on my printer/scanner and made a 200% larger copy to make
the numbers more readable.