If your neighbor has been at this 7-years and can't make a pull start work without breaking it; then he's a retard.
Granted, sometimes they fail due to dirt intrusion into the 1-way bearing inside and occasionally the flat coil spring will jump out and unwind itself.
BUT, for the most part, a pull starter shouldn't give you much, if any trouble so long as an engine is tuned ok.
3 to 4 short pulls and the engine should hit-off.
Anything more than that and you either have 1) No fuel; 2) no spark; or 3) your needle setting are way off. But don't go whacking the mixture needles around til you've checked the first two.