No car, need IKEA delivery for a full apartment setup. What actually works?

Setting up my new rental apartment from scratch. We are talking the basics: bed, mattress, desk, chair, etc.

I do not have a car, so IKEA delivery is the plan. But when I tried to book a delivery slot for the day I get my keys which is 3 weeks from now, IKEA shows all of those are booked and only available slots are the next 3 days from now. I am currently living in a serviced apartment.

A few things I am trying to figure out:

• Is the IKEA delivery experience actually reliable, or are there horror stories?
• Is there a smarter way to book slots?
• Are there third party services that pick up and deliver from IKEA same day or scheduled date?

Would love to hear from people who have actually done this, especially without a car. What worked, what did not?