Bluebag

The owner came to take measurements for a closet design and install. He collected $ 100 for his effort. I called repeatedly for the design and said I was ready to have it installed quickly. I never got my design and I never got my closet. He was rude and he kept my $ 100.
Jill M.

Terrible communication! Rude, unhelpful, and inefficient. I’ve used them before and it’s always as though I’m annoying them with my questions. At this point I’d rather pay double the cost for shipping than give them anymore of my money.
*UPDATE* Bluebag was going to charge $ 116 for me to pick it up from them and IKEA is charging $ 99 to delivery it to my house. Will never spend another penny at Bluebag.

I recently purchased a whole bedroom full of furniture, bedding, lamps, and a rug through Blue Bag. I was a bit nervous because of the mixed reviews, but my entire experience from ordering to delivery was easy and went through without any issues! :) Some of my items were out of stock the first trip, but I was offered several options and I chose to have them try again the next week. Luckily they were all in stock and the second delivery was free.
Overall it was a great experience, communication was clear and timely, and delivery was fast. This service was less expensive and faster than having Ikea deliver (which I’ve done in the past) and you have your pick of the whole store, rather than the select items that Ikea ships.
I have more rooms to furnish in my house and I WILL be using them again! so glad they exist!

Blue Bag has increased their delivery costs without reflecting it on their outdated website. They stated in an email that the delivery costs have not gone up since 2010, which shows poor communication on their end and is also misleading. Used to be a great service, but their communication skills have slipped and they have some catch-​up to do now that Ikea has lowered their shipping costs. No longer the deal it used to be. If you’re desperate for Ikea, go for it… otherwise look for other options.
Be aware that it’s now less expensive to order directly from Ikea in many instances. If your item is available to purchase directly from Ikea, the shipping and delivery cost are going to be less expensive in most cases. On an order with $ 700 in merchandise, ordering from Ikea was $ 99 with delivery. Blue Bag wanted $ 200 with delivery.

In the past, BlueBag has been moderately okay but at this point, I wish I’d just ordered direct from Ikea. I needed 2 of the Ikea apron front sinks. Because the countertop installations are dependent on the sinks, I ordered from BlueBag rather than direct from Ikea so I could get them that week. As it turned out, they just didn’t pick up the sinks that week, causing me to have to wait another week. It’s not like the sinks were not in stock, they were. Bluebag said it was some kind of accounting error. I’m not sure how that is when I even had a phone conversation about sink order after they had the wrong sinks in my invoice.
Now fast forward to pick-​up day. Talk to one guy who says come at 2pm. Then another guy calls me and says they’re there and we can pick them up anytime. I send my husband to pick up the sinks and they won’t let him in. There is no place to park around their new Central City location and they were incredibly rude to him. He has to leave and we still don’t have our sinks. Trust me the irritation, incompetence and general disregard for manners are not worth any magical ikea items they might bring you.
If I had ordered direct from Ikea shipping direct would have been $ 99 and no sales tax would be charged. As it is I paid $ 176 (tax and bluebag) and still don’t have the sinks. So essentially I’ve paid an extra $ 77 for nothing but the hope that at some point, maybe today I’ll have what they apparently consider the «privilege» of picking up my sinks. Save yourself time and frustration by ordering direct from Ikea. There is no benefit or upside to ordering from BlueBag at all.

My new ikea kitchen is now complete. Really great experience. The design help from their kitchen designer was a huge help they stored our stuff for months as there were construction delays on our part. Recently added another broom closet and shelves and the installation person AJ was a total professional and very nice.

I had used bluebag for some billy bookshelves a while back. I had no problems with ordering or receiving my shelves in a timely manner and customer service was great. However, while I appreciate that I don’t have to drive to Houston to pick up a smallish order I do have a little beef with their delivery service. When my shelves where delivered I watched the delivery men drop the box right outside and then make a comment about it only damaging the cardboard that my order was packaged in. I should have checked it right then and there, but alas, I didn’t. Started putting my shelves together and surprise! One of the bookshelves was crunched and dinged all along the back:(I didn’t feel the need to have it replaced since most of the damaged part was facing the wall and I will probably use bluebag again but just be aware that there is no white glove deliver here and check your order for damage BEFORE they leave

I read all the reviews on Unilocal before I went here so I was a little hesitant but I ended up using them because I didn’t have time to drive to Houston.
They were GREAT! I don’t know who the bad reviews were talking to when they said the employees were rude but whoever it was doesn’t work there anymore. They were super helpful and very nice. Every question I had was answered almost instantly through email or I called (they much prefer to use email and that is how they send you alerts with your order and delivery)
They can deliver on Friday, Saturday, Sunday (the other days of the week they are getting new inventory from Houston or organizing it for delivery) or you can pick it up from their warehouse.
I work offshore and wanted to get all my furniture home and built so my girlfriend wouldn’t be sitting in an empty apartment and they were completely understanding and made sure I had everything before I left.
I also had ordered a sofa cover that I didn’t like the color. I told them and they ordered a new one for me right away and had it to me before I even brought the old one back.
Take the bad reviews with a grain of salt. If you treat them with respect, double check your order, and monitor your email you will be happy.

I’ve used their services twice and have had perfect experiences. Maybe they read the bad reviews on their communication and customer service and have since reformed? I emailed my Ikea shopping list on Sunday evening and received an invoice the following day. I had some questions and emailed back and forth with the customer service rep and had everything settled by the end of the day. I received my items that Friday within the time frame in which I was scheduled.
Some notes:
— It’s only 15% personal shopping fee if you spend more than $ 1K. There’s an additional $ 25 charge for home delivery. It was slightly cheaper to ship from Ikea bc I wouldn’t be charged tax, but it was also going to take 2 weeks for them to deliver.
— For those who were upset they’re items were shipped in multiple trips due to lack of inventory at Ikea, I suggest paying attention to the availability of your specific item on the Ikea website — it will tell you if your item is low in stock or out at the Houston location.
I guess I got lucky and had great customer service, timely delivery and all of my items came intact. I will definitely be using their services again!

I’ve ordered from Bluebag several times, and each instance it was a mixed bag. While I LOVE Ikea, I hate having to go through Bluebag, because they are just so rude. Even simple questions about rescheduling a delivery or pickup times are met with sharp retorts.
Most recently, a set of shelves arrived damaged. I gave Bluebag the benefit of the doubt and assumed they came from Ikea that way, but they needed to be returned as they are unusable. I got a sharp reply telling me that even though I must have damaged the shelves in the 15 minutes they were in my empty car (and not the 6 hours they were shoved in with flatpack furniture on their way from Houston to New Orleans) that Bluebag would be gracious enough to handle my return.
Yes, I’m getting what I want in the end, but every correspondence from Bluebag is passive aggressive or just, you know, agressive agressive.
UPDATE: The owner told me (over email) to keep the busted shelves and they would provide a free replacement. I wanted to toss them in the garbage, but good thing I hung on to them, because when we went to pick up the replacement, they demanded we return the broken shelves they had told me to keep! We had to drive all the way home and back again. Seriously guys, can’t you even stand by your word?

I ordered white book shelves and they delivered black. They exchanged them but not before telling me that I ordered black and it was my mistake. Then they completely misinformed me about how the bookshelves would be installed. They sent some one to cut out the baseboards (so the shelves would sit flush to the wall) who had only done this «one or two times before» and really did not generate much confidence that it would be quality work. They are very poor communicators and some of the staff is very curt bordering on rude. They act as if they are doing you a favor. One other thing. I bought two sofas from them and they charged my account. Then, a few days later, they informed that the sofa covers were not in stock and they only shop once a week and it could take weeks to get them. I gave them two weeks and then requested a refund. The refund process is very slow. I won’t do any more business with them.

Very easy to use and courteous service! So much cheaper than using IKEA delivery service from Houston! Delivery to us in the French Quarter would literally have been ten times the price using IKEA delivery (over $ 300 versus about $ 30 — NB, Bluebag’s service/​delivery charge is a certain percentage of your total order cost, not a flat fee). And when their truck was delayed by about half a day, they wrote to apologize, gave us a statement credit (without our requesting it), apologized again on the telephone (they were super friendly), and rescheduled at a time (the next morning) that was convenient for us. I would definitely recommend to anyone.

This company is great, but the quality of communications from its office employees are lacking. They are not friendly and act as if you are placing a burden on them by calling (almost to the point of being rude, but not quite).
I will most probably not recommend this company to my friends, unless they really want something from Ikea.

Great idea, great company! I have used them several times (seriously they have pretty much furnished my entire apartment), and they are always on time, professional and courteous. The communication is also timely and frequent, which is very important to me and made me feel way more comfortable, given the amount involved with my first order. One of the pieces was broken upon opening the box — blue bag came by my place, picked up the broken item, and brought me a new item the next week, no muss no fuss! I have also used their installation services, very good job. I would (and have) recommended blue bag to anyone looking for an Ikea product-​definitely beats the 11 – 12 hour drive to Houston and back!!!

Delivered sofa on time, assembler came on time. All were friendly, professional, and efficient. Highly recommended.

Great service for the NO area! My list of purchases through Bluebag ranges from sheets and towels to shelving, an armoire, and a desk. The only thing that I think could improve the service would be to have the ability to link more than one item together when ordering — for example, the ability to specify that if ASKER containers are not available, then please don’t buy the requested ASKER hooks. Since I have purchased a good bit through them, I’ve run into a few little snafus like this that necessitated returns, but customer service is great, returns are no problem, and I will keep ordering.

Blue Bag came through as promised. They where punctual with the delivery and accurate with the order. I felt that what they charge for their services was fair. Being how much we like IKEA in my household, I will be using them again in the future. I recommend these guys. Keep up the good work BB!

I love New Orleans. I love IKEA. But, up until I found Bluebag, I was so sad that these two best friends of mine just never got together! Then my FB page recommended that I become a fan and, if you can’t trust the powers that be at FB then who can you trust? Well, I became its friend and, lo and behold, I needed an IKEA fix shortly thereafter.
I was not interested in paying the bazillion dollars IKEA was asking for to ship my Billy bookcases with the extensions and down lighting. At a mere 20% of the total cost of my order it seemed WAY worth it to have Mehmet drive on out to Houston and bring my stuff back for me.
He was willing to keep my stuff at their new showroom on Richard St. for me to pick up as I wouldn’t be around for the 1 – 3 pm delivery; I live in a slightly sketchy neighborhood and have actually received about ²⁄₃ of things I’ve ordered online and didn’t feel like risking it this time. I called him 2 hours before I wanted to get my stuff and he happily met the husband and me at the warehouse so that I could get the goods. He was really sweet with me kids. Bonus points.
Excellent service. Brilliant idea. I’ll be using Bluebag again.

We went to Ikea in Houston a couple of weeks ago to find that the item we wanted was out of stock. An Ikea employee told us about Bluebag. We checked out their website and saw that it serviced New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette. When our item became available we sent the shopping list in to Bluebag.
Their website states a 20% delivery charge, which is fine because I hate the 3 hour drive from Lafayette to Houston. After accepting our payment they email us back asking for another $ 20 surcharge to deliver to Lafayette because it’s 2.5 hours outside of New Orleans. Strange. Lafayette is on the way to New Orleans, and there is no indication of any surcharges on the website.
I asked why they couldn’t just make the delivery on their way to New Orleans. And the guy said, «Ok, but it’ll be at 1am.»
Sounds good to me. I told him that was fine. I’ll get up at 1am to drag a box into my house and save $ 20.
He immediately crawfished and said he wouldn’t make the delivery at 1am. He told me he was being sarcastic.
It’s hard to get me riled up. But as a customer when a business owner gets sarcastic with me. Oh man…
I told him that as a small business owner he shouldn’t be using sarcasm when addressing a customers needs. And perhaps going above and beyond could net him additional customers by word of mouth. This offended him and he whined about not sleeping for three weeks. Then he hung up.

This is a really cool service and such a smart idea. Its perfect if you’re like me and moved to the city w/​o knowing people to move or assemble furniture for you. My dog isnt much help with this stuff!
Bluebag drives to IKEA Houston weekly, you place an order at the IKEA website and have it emailed to Blue Bag. They will send you an invoice. Its 20% fee for them to pick up and deliver your items. I was nervous because its a newer business with only one review, but felt more comfortable that you can pay with pay pal.
Then if you choose, they will assemble your furniture for a reasonable hourly rate, but you can just have it delivered if all you want is like a rug or something. All the details are at their website. For assembly, they send you a bill afterwards and you just pay online again. So easy!
The service itself was awesome! Both delivery and assembly was efficient, professional and promptly on time (a bit awkward since I’m never on time and was not home yet).
I would highly recommend Blue Bag to anyone looking for items from IKEA and either doesnt feel like driving six hours or is as clueless as me about assembling furniture!