Probably, you need a test kit.

The chance that your alkalinity is "0" after 24 lbs of borax is small; the chance that your dealer's testing is seriously wrong is large. You already have accumulated quite a bit of evidence suggesting that your dealer does not test water reliably. If you keep trying to treat your pool based on test values that are quite likely bogus, you'll end up doing a lot to help your dealer's bottom line, but little to help your pool.

Add more borax, till your pH is 7.2 on a cheap drops based testkit, but order a Taylor K2006 or equivalent. Lamotte's kit is fine, but much more expensive. Just be sure to get an FAS-DPD complete kit -- there's an Amazon link in my signature. It's showing "US General" as the seller right now. That's probably OK, but "Amato Ind" does ship the correct kit. Most likely, they'll be back on Amazon by Monday or Tuesday.