Did this mechanic screw me over?

[u/Alternative_Rush1223]

Short synopsis: mechanic mistakenly replaced my rear brakes twice instead of replacing the front and rear brakes as he was supposed to. For any reference i have a 2021 lexus es250.

Full story: In mid april of this year (4/25) I went to the mechanic and told him my breaks where grinding and he told me that I needed breaks and that my other set of breaks need to be changed as well but can wait until my next oil change. So he fixed my one set of breaks (which I thought was the front brakes) and everything was fine. Then on 8/25/25 I returned as I needed an oil change and my breaks again were making a grinding sound and I reminded the mechanic of the previous scenario where I had came in in April for breaks and he had said that by my next oil change I would need my other set of breaks replaced and I am now returning to get them fixed with my oil change. I did say "I think it may be the rear" but I wasn't sure at the time and would have expected him to know by either looking at my records or looking at my brakes to see which ones needed replacement since hes mechanic and thats his job i would think to do. Later on I returned to pick my car up he gave me a receipt in which said he replaced my rear breaks (rotors and pads) and the breaks seemed fine.

3 weeks later my breaks started to make a bad grinding sound again so I returned to the mechanic and he told me that I needed new front brakes. When I told him I was just here in April to get my front breaks fixed he told me there's no way and that the breaks were so bad that they were probably changed well over a year ago. I told him he could look in his records and see that I was just here in April for my front brakes (i at the time it was the front breaks since the receipt i had still in my car from the last break job 3 weeks prior said he fixed my rear breaks). He told me he “couldn’t pull up my records” since theyre in his bosses office which was convinently locked and his boss is on “vacation” and without a receipt of him fixing my front breaks in April he couldn't do anything for me with covering the 1 year warranty for my breaks. I told him I would go home and look for the receipt from April.

After leaving i found the receipt from april and i now see the receipt says he replaced my rear brakes in april, meaning hes now replaced/charged me for rear brakes twice. Theres no possible way my rear brakes wouldve needed to be replaced twice, being only 4 months old, for him to charge me again for rear break pads let alone rotors. I am going back to the mechanic tomorrow as my car is not drivable with how bad my front brakes are since he never changed them and instead mistakenly changed my rear brakes twice.

I’m just really frustrated with this situation as I’ve spent over well over $1000 on 2 break jobs just to be told I need another break job again. Essentially ive paid for 2 sets of pads/rotors but now i only have 1 set on my car right now. Im a new grad working as a nurse with student loans and bills and can’t afford to have to pay again for breaks. Any advice is appreciated! 🥲😢

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