As a fellow expat who would very much like to get rid of my US citizenship too, I can tell you my experience with Americans is that they are not happy that anyo

As a fellow expat who would very much like to get rid of my US citizenship too, I can tell you my experience with Americans is that they are not happy that anyone gets out and doesn't have to deal with the same crap they deal with. Tell them you like the life/people/culture in country X better and they get upset, defensive, angry even, like you wronged them by calling attention to the reality that its not actually a very nice place to live, and they know it, and they know they are stuck there. More than anything, I believe this essential truth about American character explains things like this $2.5K "fee" and the spineless response from the embassy you got. It's all just to fuck with you, cause you got away and don't have to live around those people and their crazy anymore.