There has been a new development in this story.

University of Oregon alum Patrick Leonard had scant hope of finding affordable college football championship game tickets when he scrolled through online reseller StubHub late on New Year's Day.



But he'd promised his 12-year-old son -- he of the pint-sized Marcus Mariota jersey -- that he'd check. To his surprise, he found tickets for $414.84 apiece.



Leonard acted quickly, before Ohio State had even stunned Alabama in the second semifinal game, purchasing four tickets for $1,659.36.



He placed his order. He thought the comma placement to be odd on his order total of "$16,59.36 USD."



But no matter. He told his son they were going to see the Oregon Ducks in the first-ever College Football Playoff National Championship. His daughter Grace, age 9, and a friend would also attend.



The next day, on Friday, Leonard discovered StubHub had billed his American Express credit card $16,059.36. But his phone receipt still said "$16,59.36 USD."



He immediately called StubHub. He emailed them screen shots of his phone showing "$16,59.36 USD." He told them he expected the company to honor the price on his phone.



He did not hear back from StubHub the rest of Friday.



It should be noted that these weren't just any nosebleed seats in the stratosphere of AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.



No, these seats, as described in the comments section of the StubHub smartphone receipt, included "access to Field Level Club and Founders Club which includes all-inclusive food and beverage. Founders Club – Roomier cushioned seats."



Leonard acknowledges it appeared he'd snared a really good deal, seats in a section that were going for $4,000 elsewhere on StubHub which, since August, has been UO's official secondary-ticket marketplace.



But Leonard, a 1990 UO graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in finance who is now managing director of Clarendon Partners, a financial-affairs consultant in Arlington, Va., says a deal is a deal. And he had proof of the terms on his phone.



Late Saturday, he emailed a customer-service representative requesting an immediate resolution as he needed to purchase airplane tickets.



About 30 minutes later, Leonard said, StubHub sent him an email saying his ticket purchase would not be honored. Another customer-service representative would be able to follow up on Monday, he was told.



And on Monday, Leonard says, a senior supervisor in StubHub's Major Events Group called to underscore Saturday's decision – his order had been rescinded, the charge on his credit card would be refunded and, as a goodwill gesture, StubHub would give him $1,600 credit toward future ticket purchases.



StubHub, the San Francisco-based subsidiary of eBay, sometimes makes mistakes and this is one of them, Alison Salcedo, head of U.S. consumer public relations, said Tuesday.



"It's not a totally perfect process," Salcedo said, adding she was not certain how the erroneous ticket price showed up on the company's smartphone app. "It's really rare that we have errors. But errors do happen. We apologized to him."



Salcedo also said only one other customer had had a similar experience to Leonard's in purchasing 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship tickets through StubHub.



Leonard doubts that explanation, saying a StubHub customer service representative told him "that the issue that I ran into had affected others."



Leonard said he believes StubHub is asserting that only one other customer was affected in a similar way to avoid the possibility of a class-action lawsuit.



He also said with a limited audience affected, he is surprised the company would not absorb the expense of its mistake and fulfill ticket requests for two customers.



In response, Salcedo said in an email, "we're continuing to investigate the issue and if any other customers were affected, our customer service team will be in touch with those individuals directly."



Leonard also pointed to another customer ticket mix-up for the first game of the 2013 World Series game at Fenway Park. In that case, StubHub provided the customer with tickets.



Leonard, who has written two posts to his blog about his experiences, said he'd considered taking legal action against StubHub but, with just six days to kickoff, he doubted there would be enough time for a resolution.



He said he won't bother using the $1,600 in StubHub vouchers.



But he will be watching Monday's game... at home with family and friends.



abrettman@oregonian.com

503-294-5900; @allanbrettman