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A old very good friend was telling me tonight how he ended up spending several hundred dollars because he couldn't get his gun safe that had a lot of valuable besides guns. The tech who came and opened it for him advised him to change his combination regularly, every 3 or 4 months to prevent punching the same keys repeatedly and not to repeat number in your combination for the same reason. Maybe this will save you some money and aggravation.
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I don't trust the electronic keypads like I do the good old-fashioned combination locks. Unfortunately those are virtually impossible to find these days. Did your friend's not come with a backup key? That seems more or less standard now and is the only way I'd buy one with electronics for fear of exactly the kind of issue you describe.
If it had a backup key he had probably forgotten about it. He lives about 50 miles south of Memphis and the service call was $250 and the tech fee was $100 per hour. He retired from a very good job, but he grew up in a 4 room house with an outhouse so he appreciates a dollar more than most folks.
Bought my spin-the-dial type gun safe back when we lived in Washington. Hauled it across country because the electronic locks were starting to hold sway and I don't trust them. Turns out I really didn't need it. I only keep my precision rifles in it. The pistols, AR's, shotguns and a couple of .22LR bolt guns are located all around the house.