It is not about Electrum working properly or not, it is about the user writing the words on paper correctly. Doing everything from scratch to recover the wallet (eg. re-boot into cold storage OS, install Electrum, enter 12 words, etc.) makes sure they have done things correctly. It also has the benefit of actually trying to recover and learn how it should be done, like an exercise.
But he said he entered the words down on paper very carefully. but people are insisting he made a mistake. that doesn't make any sense. those two things don't jive. i tend to believe him that he did write them down correctly because he insisted that was the case not just once but twice in this thread.