Maybe you could poke around the neighborhood, and find a used lawnmower that works OK. Sometimes people sell them for $25.00 or so. There might be someone who fixes old lawnmowers, and he could help you get it running, if necessary. You might get lucky, and end up with a working lawnmower for less than 50 dollars. Then, Sears can keep the one they sold you, and you can keep your money, at least, most of it.

Problem is...I paid 400$ for this lawn mower last year.

Dude; you're getting the shaft. They cannot reasonably blame recoil starter failure on evidence of blade damage when the mower ran fine for some time after the damage. For example, the blade itself would not be covered but the engine would be. If you had hit something with the mower that caused internal engine damage, I can see where it would come under the 'negligence' clause in the warranty, but such damage would have been evident immediately - the mower would not have been usable.
Bottom line: if they won't fix it, guys here can post how to fix it yourself or you could take it to any mower shop and get it repaired. It's my least favorite repair job, but I have to put a new starter cord on one soon.

I don't know if this is too complicated for you, but might be a good learning experience.

Your easiest bet might be to remove the top metal shroud from the mower, to which the rewind assembly is riveted. It's probably held on by 4 bolts and possibly the oil tube is attached to it. Disconnect the oil tube and let it in place in the engine to avoid a mess.

Remove the old rope by pulling the remainder all the way out until you see the knot at the end of it, which is still remaining in the assembly. If the rewind spring was getting weak, you can turn the pulley one more revolution tighter for more recoil strength.

Line up the slots and put a screwdriver through the closest slots to hold the recoil spring at that position, so it doesn't rewind. Now push the end of the rope backwards and cut the knot and remove the rope completely.

Measure the length and diameter of the entire old rope and get a replacement.

Push the new rope through the same holes you pulled the old rope through and tie a single knot, trim off the extra rope on the outboard side of the knot, put a few drops of fingernail polish on the knot and let it soak into the fibers. Install the pull handle using the same single knot and nail polish.

Now you can hold the rope, remove the screwdriver, and slowly feed the new rope into the rewind pulley until the slack is gone.

Re-attach the engine shroud and oil tube, pull the rope out of the housing and secure the pull handle at the handlebar. If you have used the same diameter rope as the original, you will be set to go. If the rope is a larger diameter, you may have binding problems, a short pull, and will have to remove some rope at the pull handle end. If your rope is a thinner diameter, you'll be OK, but it won't last long.

To mystergag,
IÂm sorry to hear that youÂre having these issues with your lawn mower. We would most certainly like to look into this and see what needs to be done to resolve this issue. My name is Brian and I am part of the Sears Cares escalation team. At your convenience, please contact my office at searscares@searshc.com so that we can get this taken care of for you. In the email, please provide a contact phone number and the phone number the lawn mower was purchased under (if different than the contact phone number) and we will call you directly. Also, please provide the screen name (mystergag) used to post here for reference to this issue, and we do look forward to talking to you soon.

Thank you,
Brian J.
Senior Case Manager
Sears Cares

Hello mystergag;

You have received good information here if you decide to go at this repair yourself.

What I would like to second is the notion that hitting anything with the blade could damage the starter assembly. It just isn't a possibility. You could hit a railroad iron, bend the blade, bend the crank and shear a flywheel key but in no way is the starter assembly engaged with the engine after the engine starts.

It looks like there may be some help available above which is very surprising these days.

Mike Merritt

A: Contact Sears Customer Relations at Home Office.

B: Mention that you are going to contact the Consumer
Protection Division of the Attorney General's Office for
your State.

Walt Conner