I've heard many horror stories of people, who sent BTC and paid absurd transaction fees, because they were sending the BTC in the wrong time or their wallet settings weren't adjusted correctly.
Take note that i do not support op's assessment of fiat currencies and banks, people who overpay in transaction fees when using BTC is not a peoblem with the BTC system, but their own mistake, and since BTC is a decentralized network, its users have to learn to be their own bank. They should know how to check the mempool before making a tx and how to consolidate their inputs to save up on future fees, however, the problem in the op is more about the system in this case, rather than the individual.