Hello, and welcome to the forum!!
Sounds like you've been "pool-stored". Lots of people have the same experience you have, before finding us and taking control over their own pools. Clearing your pool shouldn't be that expensive, and not nearly as difficult as the pool place has made it out to be--although all the junk they had you dump into it isn't going to help the situation much.
First off--how deep is your pool? If it's 4 ft from bottom to waterline, I'm estimating that it holds about 13,500 gallons. Does that sound right to you? Second--how big a pump and what kind and size filter do you have? Also, are you filling it from well water or from city water?
The strips that you are using are what we call "guess strips", because they are not at all accurate OR reliable. Do yourself a favor and go to WalMart, Home Depot, Lowe's, or anywhere else that sells pool stuff and get an OTO kit--it uses red and yellow drops to measure chlorine and pH. Also, take a sample of your pool water into the pool store that sold you all that junk and ask them to test your CYA. Don't buy anything from them, though--just smile and tell them you have it at home.
We need your stabilizer (CYA) level to tell you what level to bring your chlorine up to to clear the pool, but basically you're going to need to use plain, unscented bleach to raise your chlorine to "shock" levels--that level, again, depends on your CYA. You'll need to test your chlorine 2-3 times daily and add enough chlorine to get back up to that shock level--the more times you can do this in a day, the quicker your pool will clear up. In a 13,500 gallon pool, each 1/2 gallon of 6 % beach you add will raise your chlorine by 2.2 ppm, so you can use that as a guide when making your additions. You'll need to maintain this shock level, pool pump running 24/7, watching filter pressure and cleaning filter as pressure indicates, until the pool clears. It can take a few days and a LOT of bleach, depending on how much goop the pool store talked you into buying, but I can assure you that with some patience and persistence, we can help you get it cleared up. You need to toss the strips, though, and at least get the OTO kit. In order to truly control your own pool, you'll need a good test kit, but the OTO will work for now.
If you'll post back with your pool volume and your CYA level, we can get you headed in the right direction!!
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