When attorneys work for a creditor, it's not usually on a case-by-case basis. Attorneys in this line of work usually have a contract of some sort to represent that creditor in court collections for a city or a region or a state. For instance, Capital One has a guy in Arkansas that they use for a good portion of the southeast (AR, TN, GA). So the attorney did not do anything unethical by representing his client in a matter that he didn't necessarily know about in advance. An attorney's representation of a client does not necessarily end when the case closes, and depending on the state, it may have been unethical for him to refuse to represent his client when he was already in court for other matters, especially if those other matters were for the same client. It also sounds like the attorney may not have been properly served with your motion, so you might have been lucky that the judge even listened to the case.
Since a motion to vacate is on a case that already existed--and not a new case--the attorney's previous notice of appearance suffices and he would not have to file a new one.
You can check with your state's bar association to file a complaint against the judge or the attorney, but this does not sound like anything that needs discipline.
What state are you in again? You can file an appeal (or ask for permission to appeal) at the next court level up, probably the intermediate appellate court in your state. I think you were unlucky, but motions to vacate are a crap shoot. Best case scenario would have been that no one showed up to argue against you, but it sounds like with this judge, he might have denied you anyway.