You have to have a certain mentality to go down this path. Most people don't like messing with things and getting their hands dirty, even it costs them a fortune to replace a device. It's not because they're stupid. They rather think that it's too complicated to try anything and they're afraid they might make things even worse than they already are. Also, quite often they don't have the necessary tools and buying them and learning to use them is a task on its own.
One other thing that strikes me as odd is that most people aren't curious to learn how their everyday devices work. As long as it works it's fine by them. I from the other hand need to know even how the toilette flush works because I find the learning process fascinating.
> they're afraid they might make things even worse than they already are
I get this, but I also think that if you're willing to spend $2000 to replace a refrigerator, per the example, it's not like you can make the situation much worst.
I suppose they might think that they can harm themselves in the process, that's possible. Personally, I might only be okay with futzing around with a refrigerator because I've done it with other (smaller, seemingly less harmful) things in the past.
I think they make the correlation between cost and complication, thus assuming that it will be too much of a trouble to fix it. Let's not forget that we live in an era where free time becomes a luxury. Someone may think that spending 20-30 hours to learn a few things about a refrigerator and locating the problem might be a waste of precious time. If you don't have an intrinsic curiosity on how things work then fixing broken devices might seem like too much of a trouble without any clear benefits.
> I guess it all boils down to how curious one is.
People can be curious about different things. I have little interest in understanding mechanical/electrical stuff, but I love reading about and visiting other cultures, I enjoy learning new games (board and video), and learning new physical/athletic skills.
Curiousity and confidence play a role, but remember that no one has unlimited time and a half day (or more) spent on learning and completing a new repair is a half day you didn't spend on something else you may have deeper and more enduring curiousity about. Every activity has an opportunity cost.
One other thing that strikes me as odd is that most people aren't curious to learn how their everyday devices work. As long as it works it's fine by them. I from the other hand need to know even how the toilette flush works because I find the learning process fascinating.
I guess it all boils down to how curious one is.