Q: What if my machine is not worth fixing?
A: Money spent for diagnosis is not ever wasted, because even if you decide to get a new one, the technicians know more than anyone about which kinds of features, brands or machines are to be avoided and which are to be sought after. We go around seeing real world performance of these machines everyday.
Sometimes there can be outside causes (from house power or water etc) that may break a new appliance as well, or cause the new appliance not to work upon arrival.
Sometimes there is information for better use and care of the appliance, that may help you keep your current appliance, or prevent a similar fate with the next appliance. In such cases having someone come to diagnose can save money and hassles going forward.
If it is uneconomical to repair I would be the first to say. It is a standard we are held to a few times everyday.
Since it is in both of our interests to have satisfaction upon completion of the repair, I am very quick to warn about the more in depth ones whenever I can see them coming on the horizon. However, sometimes, in rare cases, I may start working before I discover if in fact a machine is not worth fixing. Those are dealt with on a case by case basis.