This is the hard thing among with these kind of cloud mining investments even how reputable and how long they are operational and i agree on the things you do have said.They do have the full control or manipulation as they like and as an investor you wont really have any choice but to follow on whats being said if you dont like to experience such problems with them.For those early investor back in the past with HF i do believe they are already on profits and since difficulty rise up they make such changes and for those who came in too late will really feel the difference when it comes to profit talks.
I think the methods of HashFlare is simply because they are a ponzi. While I do believe that they have miners available and are actually mining, I believe they were operating at a loss due to the "lifetime" contracts they offered upon launching their services. With the given changes, I'm fairly certain that they are now profitable. With all of the dead accounts with balances, to the raising of fees, they seemed to have found a model that works. They blame difficulty rising and the inflated prices of Bitcoin, but I believe that it's no longer worth any time to buy any hashrates with HF anymore. Like I stated before, as soon as my contract ends, I will be withdrawing all of my crypto from this site and won't be looking back!