Maybe some do, but I don't think that is the root of the problem. A lot of people would be happy to buy a more expensive product if they knew they would get a better product. But we don't know that. A lot of more expensive brands are just design and marketing. And models often aren't sold long enough so I still can buy something that some reviewer (which I should try to make sure isn't paid by the manufacturer) praise after actually using for a couple of years.

So, as usual, it's an information problem. We don't pay for quality, because it's almost impossible to know that we actually get what we pay for. So it's more rational to buy some cheap stuff and hope for the best instead of paying 5 times as much and be disappointed again when the stuff breaks.