Steaks taste horrid in the center?
If your steaks were soggy and flavorless then the steak wasn't good to begin with. It's possible it was old as well, or had been frozen and thawed. It doesn't sound like your method was wrong (except not having your oven to temperature but that shouldn't make them soggy and flavorless), but meat itself wasn't good. You paid $6 per steak, I'd expect to pay triple that for decent meat to be honest.