there's a lot to be said for the old mechanical machines! unless you beat them with a sledge hammer they just keep going as long as you clean and oil - and you don't worry about getting a drop of oil on the circuit board!
As a for instance, just the Singers I have that sew a gazillion stitches (with or without cams)..
401 (no cams), 306 and 319 (cams and special needles) (as for the special needles I bought enough to last my lifetime and my daughter's and grand-daughters')...
I have a Singer xl000 and a Brother 2003D - both fancy electronic embroidery machines - I think they are buried under quilting mess LOL
I wonder if some of the repair places are like some car repair places - they figure you'll keep coming back for more $$ repairs if they "help" it get disabled or they don't repair it correctly in the first place..